I don’t know about you, but I’m expecting to see an entirely different Dallas Cowboys team take the field Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers then we saw last week. For some reason or another the Cowboys decided to do their best impression of the “Walking Dead” against the Indianapolis Colts a week ago, but luckily I don’t think they will be playing in zombie mode this week.
Getting completely embarrassed has a way of putting things in perspective. That’s exactly what I think happened to the Cowboys last week, which is why I believe they will bounce back this week against a Buccaneers team who really has nothing to play for.
Winning actually does nothing for Tampa Bay but worsen their draft status in the upcoming 2019 NFL Draft. On the other hand, if they lose they better that draft status, putting them in a better position to draft a potential franchise quarterback since they have obviously soured on Jameis Winston. Sounds like a win-win for the Cowboys.
The Buccaneers might not completely rollover, but they don’t have the same kind of incentive to win this game as the Dallas Cowboys do. Dallas really needs to win this game to not only help secure the NFC East division title, but to get their confidence back after it was knocked down a peg or two against the Colts last Sunday.
There is absolutely nothing about Tampa Bay that should worry the Cowboys too much. Offensively, Quarterback Dak Prescott and his receivers should be able to move the ball through the air with ease against the Buccaneers 27th ranked pass defense. Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and Cole Beasley should all have big games.
Ezekiel Elliott should also have a big game as both a runner and receiver against the Buccaneers. Their defensive line may be the strength of their team, but no one has really been able to contain Zeke all season and I don’t expect that to happen this week either. Don’t be surprised to see Prescott more involved as a runner as well. Hooray!
Defensively I’m expecting a bounce back game from the Dallas Cowboys. Last week against the Colts was without a doubt their worst performance of the season and I believe they took that personally. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they took out their frustrations on the Jameis Winston led Buccaneers offense.
All in all, I really believe this is a game the Dallas Cowboys should dominate from start to finish. They are not only the more talented team, but they have their eyes set on building momentum heading into the playoffs. This could be the perfect confidence booster they need before they close out the regular season against the New York Giants next week.
I’m expecting this game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to be just a speedbump on the road to the playoffs for the Dallas Cowboys. It’s time for them to put the pedal to the metal and not look back in the rearview mirror.
Dallas should win the match without problems
I want to see how Dak responds after the game against Colts
Actually, the Cowboys should be dominating almost every team they face with the talent they have on their team. Poor coaching and poor leadership is the reason they are an inconsistent team. Take Dak for example; so many fans are down on him now (with good reason) because he’s been struggling. The problems he’s been having (not keeping 2 hands on the ball, throwing stupid picks, etc.) are definitely easily correctable with decent coaching. Wade Wilson was doing a good job with him but the great leadership at the top decided to replace him with a backup QB who stunk as a player and why in the world they would think that would qualify him to be a great QB Coach is beyond me. Another thing I don’t get is why we have 2 inexperienced backup QBs instead of at least 1 experienced guy providing competition for Prescott like say, Nick Foles. If we had signed Foles when he was a FA, he’d probably be our starting QB right now and we’d probably be winning. And I don’t mean just signing an experienced QB but one who has shown he can win with talent around him. If Management is worried that having a QB like that on the team would screw up Dak’s confidence, what do they think losing will do to him? We all know what happened with the OL and the brilliant idea to hire a new OL Coach who wanted to change our OL blocking scheme and techniques. Thank God they at least fired him and replaced him with Columbo who was a good Offensive Lineman through sheer will by playing through enormous pain and by working hard, studying technique on film and committing himself to be the best player he could be. That’s the type of QB Coach they SHOULD have hired, or just kept the one they already had. Of course the OL has had numerous injuries and although Looney has done a surprisingly good job filling in for Fredrick , he’s just not on the same level as Travis is. I didn’t realize how much Travis meant to the OL, not just as a great Center but as a leader and the glue that holds the OL together. Even if we do win Sunday, without great OL play we won’t go far. The same holds true for the DL. As they go, so goes our Defense. This is by far the best D we have had since Woody retired. IMO we still need a ball hawk Safety, like Earl Thomas. But with the expiring contracts of DLaw, Amari Cooper and even Dak (who should be signed to a “prove it” type contract and provided a QB Coach who’s great at developing young QBs) I don’t know if we have the money to sign a player like Thomas. They may get a slight “home field advantage” discount but he’ still going to expect big bucks. I just hope that some of the players they signed this past off season (Hurns, for example) have team-friendly terms in them. But knowing Jones, they don’t, then he’ll sign Prescott to a 10 year, $2 billion contract and lure Jon Gruden out of Oakland by giving away our First Round draft picks for the next 10 years in compensation.