SANTA CLARA — Nick Bosa wanted to keep his 27th birthday hush-hush, so rather than open gifts or eat cake in front of reporters, he spoke on his and the 49ers’ overall health.
Bosa appeared on the injury report for the first time this season with a left elbow injury. It limited him in practice Wednesday, although he shed the compression sleeve that covered his elbow earlier in the day as well as after Sunday’s 28-18 loss to Kansas City.
Bosa looks certain to play Sunday when the 49ers (3-4) host the Dallas Cowboys (3-3).
“It’s been a little sore but I bumped it a couple times last game. But I’m fine,” said Bosa, tracing the injury back to the 49ers’ Week 2 loss at Minnesota.
Bosa has 3 1/2 sacks this season, splitting a sack Sunday when the 49ers failed to hand Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs their first defeat.
Like the Chiefs, the Cowboys are coming off their bye week, and Bosa noted that players typically have “more juice” after a week off. Dallas is 3-0 on the road, and 0-3 at home, including a 47-9 loss last game to the Detroit Lions.
“We’re in similar spots: two teams that need to right the ship and get on a better trajectory,” Bosa said. “For them, they’re coming off the bye; we’re heading into it after this.
“They want to get going and start the second half of their season the right way, and we want to go into the bye feeling good about where we’re at.”
The Cowboys have lost to the 49ers each of the past three seasons: in the 2021 and ’22 playoffs, then 42-10 last Oct. 8 at Levi’s Stadium.
“It’s been good for us. We’ve won all of them,” said Bosa.
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Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott last enjoyed a win over the 49ers in 2017, when the Cowboys came off their bye and won 40-10 at Levi’s Stadium as he threw for 234 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
“It’s going to be a tough one, for sure. They’re going to throw everything they can at us,” Bosa said. “I think they’re going to try to run the ball more than they have, because when you’ve had the losses they’ve had, they’re obviously going to try and do something a little different.
“Yeah, it’s going to be a big game.”