Week 1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Dallas Cowboys Matchup The defending Super Bowl Champions kick off the 2021 season against America's Team. Overview All-time series: The Cowboys are 15-4 all-time against the Bucs. Longest win streak: Dallas won the first eight games of the series from 1977-1990. Largest margin of victory: The Bucs were shellacked, 38-0, in 1982. 2020 offensive and defensive rankings: The Bucs finished 2020 with the NFL's seventh-best offense (2nd pass, 28th run) and the sixth-best defense (21st pass, 1st run). Tampa Bay scored 30.8 points per game on offense (3rd) and allowed 22.2 points per game on defense (8th). The Cowboys fielded the 14th-best offense (8th pass, 17th run) and the 23rd-ranked defense (11th pass, 31st run). Dallas scored 24.7 points per game (17th) and allowed 29.6 points per game (28th). What To Watch For The return of Dak Prescott: This one is pretty obvious, but it's certainly worth mentioning. Prescott hasn't played since breaking his ankle last year. He didn't even play in the preseason thanks to a strained shoulder, but it's been reported that he's 100% and ready for this game. There's bound to be some rust, right? We'll find out for sure on Thursday night. Familiarity vs. New Territory: The Bucs have talked about their growth and improved rapport on offense all offseason long. Mike Evans recently said that the offense is "miles" from where it was at this point last year. The Cowboys' defense is in new/unfamiliar territory with Dan Quinn, a new defensive scheme, and a lot of new players on that side of the ball. Can the Bucs take advantage of the Cowboys in this regard? COVID-19: Yes, the NFL is still dealing with COVID issues like the rest of the world. Cowboys All-Pro guard Zack Martin will miss the game, which is not ideal since Dallas is going up against one of the best front sevens in the league. Will there be any more fallout as game day approaches? The trenches: It all starts up front and the Cowboys are already having injury issues in both the offensive and defensive trenches. Neville Gallimore, a rising defensive tackle, dislocated his elbow in camp and will miss the first few games of the season. As mentioned earlier, Martin will miss the game. The Bucs, on the other hand, are 100% healthy and ready to go. Missing Gallimore and Martin will put the 'Boys at a big disadvantage up front. Dallas' defense: There's a lot of hype surrounding the offense and for good reason, but the defense has to improve if the Cowboys want a shot at the postseason. What better test than Tom Brady and the Bucs? How Quinn's unit performs Thursday night will give us a good idea of what's to come. Even if it is just Week 1. Impact Players Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Tom Brady: Does this one really need an explanation? RB Ronald Jones II: Jones is one of the league's more underrated runners and should have a good game against a rather soft run defense. WR Mike Evans: He's in the best shape of his career and is fully healthy, which should scare the rest of the NFL. DT Vita Vea: The fourth-year defensive tackle creates so many matchup problems for opposing protection schemes. LB Devin White: A rising star, White is one of the fastest linebackers in the league and can also rush the passer. CB Carlton Davis III: He'll be going up against the Cowboys' talented trio of receivers, so it's important he is on his game. Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott: This is will be the first live action for Prescott since he broke his ankle last year; he didn't even play in the preseason. RB Ezekiel Elliott: The sixth-year back is still one of the league's best and will need to find running room against the Bucs' top-ranked run defense. WR CeeDee Lamb: Big things are expected of Lamb in 2021. Tampa Bay has a solid secondary, but Lamb will be a tough test. DL Demarcus Lawrence: He's been watching Bucs' film since OTAs and is ready to get after it on Thursday night. LB Micah Parsons: How will the talented rookie fare during his first taste of NFL action? CB Trevon Diggs: Diggs is Dallas' best corner, but will have his hands full against the Bucs receivers. Cool Stats The Buccaneers offense scored a touchdown on 42-of-61 trips inside the red zone last season, while leading the NFL with a 95.1 scoring percentage (58-of-61) on red zone drives. Brady finished his first season in Tampa Bay with 40 touchdown passes (the most ever by a player in his first season with a team) and 4,633 passing yards (the second-most ever by a player in his first season with a team). Over his last eight quarters of regular season football, Brady threw for 1,067 yards and 10 touchdowns with just one interception. Evans set a new franchise record with 13 receiving touchdowns in 2020 (fourth in the NFL) and is Tampa Bay's all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. The Buccaneers defense has been one of the best in the league in creating turnovers since Todd Bowles took over as defensive coordinator in 2019. From the start of the 2019 season, Tampa Bay ranks tied for fourth in takeaways and second in points off turnovers.
Possible, but I hope not. Ive got big investment in Zeke in fantasy and would really like to see a shoot-out. Anyway, hope its an interesting game, not a 1-sided laugher.
Here are four things to watch Thursday night when the Buccaneers host the Cowboys: 1) Dak is back. How will Prescott look in his first game action? He sat the entire preseason with a shoulder strain almost exactly 11 months since suffering a compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle against the Giants last Oct. 11. Does he move with the appearance of comfort and confidence? Does he run without any sign of hesitation? Will the Cowboys' offensive game plan ease his return, at least early in the game, with a lot of short throws on quick reads that would help keep him upright and untouched? It’s not a formula for the season – unbridled Dak is the best Dak – but it might be better for his re-introduction to NFL game speed, especially against the Bucs’ stellar defensive front seven. 2) The GOAT Story, Chapter 22. The year is 2045. Tom Brady, age 68, is looking fit as ever and, thanks to new advances in geriatrics, can still knock an apple off a tree stump with a football from 30 yards away. He’s still slicing up NFL defenses in pursuit of a 15th Super Bowl ring, and … OK, we’re not quite there yet. But here in 2021, the assumption on how Brady looks coming off yet another Super Bowl crown at 44, entering his 22nd season, shouldn’t be that he’s bound to have slipped. He’s beyond such mortal inevitabilities. Assume instead that he continues to be a marvel of longevity, and effective enough to keep delivering NFL wins, until he proves otherwise. 3) How will Dallas’ new look at LB fare? The Cowboys have infused first-round rookie Micah Parsons and former Falcons safety into their starting linebacking corps to rave preseason reviews. Even veteran , who hopes to vanquish injury woes that shortened his availability the past two seasons, is moving from the Mike position back to the weakside spot he manned as one of NFL Media senior draft analyst Gil Brandt’s All-Rookie performers in 2018. The aforementioned Brady is masterful at turning missteps in coverage by linebackers into completions. Between Parsons’ youth, Neal’s position switch and Vander Esch’s health, there is no grace period in Week 1. The odd man out in this shuffle is , who hasn’t missed a regular season game for the Cowboys in the last four years. His play slipped significantly in 2020, however, which led to preseason trade speculation and questions about the value he can provide against a $63.75 million contract signed in 2019. The Cowboys, for now, are moving on with Smith in a backup role. 4) How will the Bucs deploy rookie Joe Tryon-Shoyinka? With two proven edge rushers in and already rostered, the Bucs used a first-round pick on another one in Joe Tryon-Shoyinka. He was everything the club could’ve hoped for in the preseason, and now the Bucs have the luxury of juggling the trio. Or will they? “There's situations where I could see in the future, down the road, where we have all three of them out there," coach Bruce Arians said in training camp. Down the road can mean a lot of things, and perhaps it won’t mean Week 1. But with Barrett and Pierre-Paul combining for 31 starts and 17.5 sacks in 2020, it will be intriguing to see who is sidelined when Tryon-Shoyinka gets his snaps against the Cowboys. NFL.com
Buccaneers break Cowboys’ hearts with last-second field goal, 31-29 The defending Super Bowl champions opened the 2021 season by showing they are going to be tough to beat. The Bucs had four turnovers and were minus-three in turnover ratio. They committed 11 penalties for 106 yards. They allowed 451 yards. They had the ball for 8 minutes, 54 seconds less than the Cowboys. They won anyway. PFT
