The postseason will start in a similar fashion to the regular season for the Dallas Cowboys as they face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card Round. One difference from the opener is that they will now be in Florida as the 8-9 Bucs won their division and the 12-5 Cowboys came in second behind Philadelphia.
Dallas hopes the outcome will be different as well. In Week 1, their offense never got moving and they lost 19-3. They also lost Dak Prescott for five games afterward as he suffered a thumb injury.
With all that being said, let’s look ahead to the Monday night contest and identify three reasons to believe this one will end differently.
3 reasons the Cowboys will beat Tampa Bay in the Wild Card Round
3. Tom Brady has one foot out the door
For someone who stayed in one place so long, Tom Brady suddenly has some nomadic tendencies. Brady spent 20 years with the New England Patriots before joining Tampa Bay in 2020. He won a Super Bowl that season but now in his third year, it appears he’s ready to move on again.
While the Bucs still have a game on the schedule, the rumors are all about where Brady will play in 2023 — with the Miami Dolphins emerging as a potential landing spot.
The last time Brady was in the playoffs with a potential departure in free agency looming was following the 2019 season with the Pats. They wound up losing 20-13 to Tennessee as Brady had a subpar game with no touchdowns and a pick. If history repeats itself, Dallas can take advantage of a player who is already looking beyond this game.
2. Balance is in the Cowboys’ favor
One thing that’s always true about offenses led by Tom Brady is that they’re typically very pass-heavy. As far as the 2022 Bucs go, that’s an understatement.
Heading into this one, Tampa’s first in passing attempts and second in yards through the air but dead last in rushing attempts, yards, and touchdowns. Yes, Brady does often throw short passes that act as an extension of the run game but the defense will have an advantage when they know what’s coming.
Dallas, on the other hand, boasts a very balanced attack. They finished in the top 15 for passing yards — despite Prescott missing five games — and ninth in the league in rushing yards.
The balance goes beyond running and passing, however, as the Cowboys are also fourth in the NFL in scoring on offense and their defense is fifth in stopping the opponent from scoring. Tampa Bay, on the other hand, is 25th in scoring and 13th in points allowed.
When the two teams met in Week 1, that was reversed. Tampa Bay had 33 rushing attempts and just 27 passes compared to 42 attempts and 18 rushes for Dallas. That was reflected on the scoreboard as Tampa won easily but the teams have gone in opposite directions since then, and the Cowboys are now the more complete team.
1. Dak Prescott needs this one
We can sit here all day and play the blame game when it comes to the interceptions Dak Prescott threw in 2022, but the fact is this — leading the league in picks despite missing five games isn’t good.
There were several that did bounce off the hands of the intended targets and there were also issues with their current stable of receivers creating separation. Even so, there were just as many head-scratching passes that ended up in the hands of the opposing team. Those turnovers led to even more scrutiny on Prescott, which is saying something since he’s spent his entire career under a microscope.
For whatever reason, Prescott seems to be unable to win over his harshest critics. He’s a former fourth-round pick that became an instant starter, won the NFL Rookie of the Year Award in 2016, and has a 61-36 overall record. Still, he gets treated as if he’s a No. 1 overall pick that failed to live up to expectations and has never had a winning season.
There’s only one way Prescott will stop the noise and that’s by defeating elite quarterbacks and doing so in the postseason. He has a shot this Monday night against Tom Brady, a game that he’s wanted for more than a year.
Prescott said after their loss to the Bucs in 2021 that they would see them again, and while it didn’t happen last year, it will now. Should they end up suffering a defeat, the hate for Prescott will be at an all-time high and he will have a hard time shaking off the “choke artist” label that will surely follow.
However, should he send Brady packing and help Dallas defeat him for the first time ever, it could help his image tremendously. He knows this, and will surely be on top of his game which will only help the Cowboys pull off a win.
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