Gold stars: Best 49ers performances from wild-card playoff win

The 49ers’ win over the Cowboys was filled with excellent performances from likely and unlikely places.

This isn’t a team built to ride one player on either side of the ball. That showed with their strong outings from up and down the depth chart. Deebo Samuel was stellar once again, but players like Ambry Thomas and Charles Omenihu got involved to come up with huge games for the 49ers.

We’re giving out gold stars this week for the best performances from the 49ers’ playoff victory:

RB Elijah Mitchell

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The 49ers rookie RB was terrific in doing the heavy lifting for San Francisco on Sunday. He rushed 27 times for 96 yards and a touchdown. His presence in the backfield remains one of the biggest reasons for the 49ers’ offensive success.

WR Deebo Samuel

(Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

Every Samuel game would’ve been a massive anomaly even last season. Now 10 carries for 72 yards and a touchdown like he had Sunday seems like the norm. Samuel also tacked on 38 receiving yards on three catches while operating as the focal point of San Francisco’s entire offense.

DL Arik Armstead

(AP Photo/Ron Jenkins)

Armstead picked a great time to play his best football. He posted three pressures with a sack, a QB hit and a hurry against Dak Prescott. It’s not a surprise to see the rest of the 49ers’ DL starting to roll as Armstead asserts himself as a force on the interior. His counting stats may not be astronomical, but his versatility and presence as an inside pass rusher made him extremely valuable on a 49ers DL that sacked Prescott five times.

DL Charles Omenihu

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Speaking of the other 49ers’ defensive linemen, Omenihu played the game of his life in Dallas. He took full advantage of added work following Nick Bosa’s concussion by racking up a team-high six pressures and 1.5 sacks. The 49ers needed someone to play extremely well to fill the void left by Bosa and their DL didn’t miss a beat thanks to Omenihu.

CB Ambry Thomas

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The story of a dominant 49ers defensive effort can’t be told without acknowledging rookie cornerback Ambry Thomas, who held the vaunted Cowboys receiving corps to two catches for 24 yards on four targets. This would’ve been unthinkable five weeks ago, but Thomas has improved quickly and was one of the 49ers’ best defensive players in their biggest game of the year.

49ers offensive line

(AP Photo/Roger Steinman)

The 49ers’ offensive line was very good against a strong Dallas defensive front. Not only did the run game churn out 169 yards on 38 carries, but Jimmy Garoppolo was only pressured 14 times, hit three times and sacked zero times. If they play this well in the divisional round the 49ers will have a real shot to swing another upset.

K Robbie Gould

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There was disaster potential if Gould wasn’t nails in Dallas. The 49ers saw multiple drives stall outside of the red zone, leading to long field goal tries for their veteran kicker. He drilled kicks from 53 yards, 40 yards, and 51 yards. San Francisco needed all of those points to help stack up an early lead and make life easier on their defense late. Gould also knocked in both of his extra points and handled kickoff duties. A missed kick or two could’ve swung Sunday’s game, but Gould came through in a big way.

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