Cowboys vs Buccaneers Wild Card Weekend: history, key players, projection
By Riley Donald
The real season begins. The NFL playoffs and Super Wild Card Weekend have arrived. The regular season can be glorious or you can barely sneak in but regardless, that is tossed out the window now for the 14 teams left standing.
The Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers cap off the weekend in primetime on Monday Night Football down in Tampa, Florida. The eyes of the nation will be on America’s Team taking on the GOAT, Tom Brady. The NFL wants their ratings and boy, are they going to get them.
The Cowboys enter this game at 12-5 with the No. 5 seed while the Bucs are the lone team with a losing record entering the playoffs at 8-9, which was good enough to win the weak NFC South. The records are tossed aside now, though. Tom Brady has never been defined by his record and the Cowboys know that as they try to slay this demon.
Time to get down to it this week with our history of the matchup, a quick look at the forecast, a player on each roster that looms large, and most importantly, try to project who moves on and who heads home for the offseason.
Cowboys vs Buccaneers: History, key matchups, and prediction
Cowboys vs Buccaneers: Matchup History
All-time Record: 15-6 in favor of the Dallas Cowboys (2-0 playoff record in favor of the Dallas Cowboys)
Most recent result: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 19, Dallas Cowboys 3 on September 11, 2022
Everyone remembers, some more begrudgingly than others, the season opener when the Bucs visited Dallas and held the Cowboys to just three points on their way to a win. The Cowboys bookended their season with poor offensive outings with this performance to start it off and last week’s circus in Washington.
Although Dallas is 7-3 in their last 10 against Tampa, they have dropped the last two to the current regime with Brady at the helm.
The elephant in the room here is Tom Brady’s perfect 7-0 record against the Cowboys in his career. He knows it, Dallas knows it, everyone watching knows it. The Cowboys simply have to find a way to not let this thought beat them before the game is even kicked off.