49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans has a tall task in front of him when the Dallas Cowboys come to Levi’s Stadium for the divisional playoffs. He’s also one of the NFL’s busiest people when it comes to interviewing for head coach openings.
Ryans had an interview scheduled for Friday with the Broncos, but he has three other interviews to squeeze in while also trying to focus on getting his defense ready to face a Cowboys offense that finished No. 4 in the NFL in scoring. Despite interviews for a promotion, Ryans on Thursday told reporters the Cowboys are still his main focus.
“Yeah, with everything that you do as a coach, you’re trying to crunch a lot of things in,” Ryans said. “You’re trying to really dissect a lot of information in a certain manner of time, so time management is a very crucial thing to have. And I know how to make the main thing the main thing and the main thing this week is the Cowboys.”
The 49ers’ chances Sunday may ride on that time management ability Ryans talked about.
Dallas is pretty easily the best offense they’ve faced since Week 7 when the Chiefs hung 44 points on them. If Ryans lets his head coach interviews interfere with his game planning, it could be another long day for the 49ers on Sunday.
If their defense shuts down the Cowboys the way they have virtually every other offense they’ve seen since Week 8, it would be perhaps their most impressive performance of the year and a testament to why Ryans is such a coveted coaching candidate.
