The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are rolling right now on their way into a Sunday Night Football matchup with the Dallas Cowboys. Winners of four straight games since the bye week, the Bucs will try to continue that momentum when they head into Jerry World on Sunday. After a blowout victory over the Los Angeles Chargers that saw them score 40 points on the league’s No. 1-ranked defense, Tampa Bay faces an easier challenge against the 6-8 Cowboys.
The Bucs and Cowboys matchup history has been pretty one-sided since their first meeting in 1977. Tampa Bay managed a stretch of three wins from 2000-03 but have won just three games since then. Two of their six wins came as the Buccaneers season openers in 2021 and 2022 with Tom Brady under center. Their last matchup ended the Bucs’ playoff hopes and Brady’s career by way of a 31-14 defeat in the Wild Card round of the playoffs in 2023.
The 2023 season saw the Cowboys match their win total of the previous year, ending the season with a 12-5 record. Entering the playoffs as the No. 2 seed, Dallas opened up the playoffs in the Wild Card round with a home game against the 9-8 Green Bay Packers. Despite having one of the league’s best-rated offense and defense and a late-game comeback attempt, the Cowboys were not able to come away with the win and were bounced from the playoffs.
After dolling out huge contracts to wide receiver Ceedee Lamb and Dak Prescott, the Cowboys didn’t do much to improve their roster outside of bringing back Elliot and signing linebacker Eric Kendricks in free agency. The team brought back running back Rico Dowdle, corner Jourdan Lewis and lineman Chuma Edoga and all have played key roles for Dallas this season. However, the Cowboys lost a ton of talent on both sides of the ball with Tony Pollard, Stephon Gilmore, Dante Fowler, Dorance Armstrong, Tyler Biadasz and future Hall of Fame tackle Tyron Smith leaving in free agency. In addition, they also lost their defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who took a head coaching job with the divisional rival Washington Commanders. They replaced Quinn with former Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer.
With all the losses and changes to the Cowboys this season, the results haven’t been pretty. Owner Jerry Jones has been criticized for not doing enough in the offseason to make them a competitive team. Combined with injuries to starting quarterback Dak Prescott and so many others throughout the season, the Cowboys are sitting at just 6-8 with any playoff hopes out of their hands.
The Cowboys are struggling on both sides of the ball, but injuries have played a huge part, especially on the defensive side of the ball. However, Dallas was 3-5 when Prescott was lost for the season, and chemistry between him and his All-Pro wide receiver was off after a training camp holdout by Lamb seeking a contract extension.
Micah Parsons missed time with injuries and the team has been without multiple pass rushers due to injury, and Dallas has now lost starting All-Pro cornerback Trevon Diggs for the season. The Cowboys rank near the bottom of the league in every team statistic outside of passing offense and third-down defense and have struggled to keep opponents from putting up points. This is a game the Bucs should win with ease as long as they don’t start beating themselves with turnovers and messy penalties.
