Read More: Derrick Dockery (G – DAL), Vernon Davis (TE – SFX), Frank Gore (RB – SFX), Braylon Edwards (WR – SFX), Miles Austin (WR – DAL), Terence Newman (CB – DAL), Anthony Spencer (LB – DAL), Dashon Goldson (S – SFX), Martellus Bennett (TE – DAL), Michael Crabtree (WR – SFX), Phil Costa (C – DAL), Dez Bryant (WR – DAL), Tyron Smith (OT – DAL), Bill Nagy (C – DAL), Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers, Sep 18, 2011 1:05 PM PDT

The Dallas Cowboys could be a banged up team come Sunday’s matchup with the San Francisco 49ers. Let’s take a look at the injury report.

Cowboys who did not practice on Thursday

Cowboys who were limited in practice on Thursday

• Cornerback Mike Jenkins and linebacker Anthony Spencer, both with shoulder injuries.

Cowboys who fully practiced on Thursday

49ers who were limited in practice on Thrusday

San Francisco looks fairly healthy, and Crabtree appears to be on his way back. This could cause all sorts of problems for a Cowboys secondary that could be very thin without Newman and would now have to deal with Crabtree, Braylon Edwards and Vernon Davis. The only way they might be able to slow down the Niners passing game is to get to Alex Smith and slow down Frank Gore in the run game.

Which could totally happen. This is the 49ers offense after all.

For more on the 49ers, go to Niners Nation. For more on the Cowboys, go to Blogging the Boys.

At least for the 49ers, there’s a glimmer of hope.

It took until the final opening quarter of the preseason for the 49ers to provide the first piece of evidence that could be parlayed into a possible recipe for success in 2011.

Unfortunately, a single quarter against a group of half-hearted San Diego Chargers does little more than edge the 49ers from no-shots into long shots.

Let’s be honest, 49ers fans needed something, anything to keep them from being convinced this season was headed toward an unmitigated disaster. Chalk up Thursday night’s first quarter as the first positive of the Jim Harbaugh era, reversing what had been up until Thursday night, an unqualified disaster of a dress rehearsal.

Until those two scoring drives — quarterbacked by Alex Smith no less — these 49ers ranked somewhere between a toothache and a migraine. They looked hopeless, like the front-runners by a wide margin for the opportunity to select Andrew Luck with the first pick of the 2012 NFL draft.

It was beginning to look like David Baas knew something.

Like he’d looked over the 49ers’ roster of offensive linemen and knew the group couldn’t protect the quarterback from a band of determined Boy Scouts, not to mention angry, 300- to 350-pound athletes posing as defensive linemen bent on squashing him.

Like he knew that no matter how good Harbaugh is going to be as the 49ers’ coach, the 49ers’ quarterback of 2011 was going to spend 16 games running for his life.

And Baas grabbed the first ticket out of town, courtesy of the New York Giants.

There are very few absolutes in professional football. One, however, states unequivocally that a quarterback with no time has no chance. And his team has no chance, too.

While 49ers fans may have been suffering through all this, Bay Area sports fans had to recognize the 49ers’ offense this preseason. It looks just like the Giants’ offense, which has for the past month convinced fans that runs were no longer coming.

When the 49ers have taken the field this preseason, it’s felt like the end zone was 300 yards away. Uphill. Over a river. Through an obstacle course. That changed a little bit Thursday night.

Sure, there’s a lot of football to be played, but the 49ers needed to take some small step in their preseason finale for their fans. They had to restore hope for the faithful. And on Thursday night, they did that. At least a little.

OK, Frank Gore has been out. So has Michael Crabtree. So there are some straws still left to stir these 49ers.

Unfortunately, grasping at straws describes precisely how the 49ers stand with another season upon them.

Tim Liotta is a freelance journalist and regular contributor to The Examiner. Email him at tliotta@sfexaminer.com.

Read More: 49ers roster cuts, 49ers 53-man roster, Nate Lawrie (TE – SFX), Frank Gore (RB – SFX), Moran Norris (FB – SFX), Nick Howell (G – SFX), Kevin Jurovich (WR – SFX), Tyler Beiler (WR – SFX), Brian Bulcke (DE – SFX), Donovan Edwards (C – SFX), Derek Hall (OT – SFX), Joe Hastings (WR – SFX), Chris Hogan (WR – SFX), Seth Smith (RB – SFX), Anthony West (DB – SFX), Kenny Wiggins (OT – SFX), San Francisco 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers and the rest of the NFL have a Tuesday deadline to make their first official roster cuts of 2011. Originally the rules required teams to cut down to 75 players, but the rule was changed to 80 for this season. Teams will make final roster cuts down to the regular season 53-man roster this weekend following the conclusion of the preseason schedule.

As the 49ers make their initial roster cuts, undrafted free agents and some first and second year street free agents are unlikely to last through Tuesday. Some of the undrafted free agents that could get cut include:

DL Brian Bulcke
OL Donovan Edwards
WR Chris Hogan
WR Joe Hastings
DB Anthony West
OT Derek Hall
OT Kenny Wiggins
RB Seth Smith
WR Tyler Beiler

Among the fairly “green” veterans on the roster, some potential cuts include:

OG Nick Howell
TE Nate Lawrie
WR Kevin Jurovich

The ten cuts on Tuesday will include many of these players. However, it is also possible the cuts could include more veteran players. One player who pops to mind is fullback Moran Norris. He is a Frank Gore favorite and has a good chance of making the roster. At the same time, the coaching staff likely knows as much as they’ll ever know about Norris. If they wanted to give some additional playing time this Thursday to a younger, less known player, it would make sense to cut Norris and provide that additional time. Additionally, cutting Norris now gives him a couple extra days to latch on with another team.

This is not to say Norris or other established veterans will get a pink slip Thursday. In fact, I would argue if Norris survives Tuesday’s cut, he is likely to survive this weekend’s cut. If the team still wants to keep him around after Tuesday, I’m not sure how much can change before the final cuts this weekend.