Tom Brady is a perfect 6-and-0 in his career against the Cowboys, but nobody knows how Sunday Night Football will unfold. Still, if we learned anything from last season, the Cowboys have plenty they did and didn’t do well; this team is a bit different from a season ago, but the keys to beating Tampa should fall into the lap of Dallas.
Most of these keys could carry over weekly, which would benefit them. Still, some are solely based on the personnel they are lining up against that week, and as we all know, they are playing Tom Brady for the second year in a row on opening night, so what can Dallas do to make this game just as good as last season?
The first key to beating the Bucs Sunday is pressure. The Tampa OL is banged up; starting Pro Bowl center Ryan Jenson and left guard Aaron Stinnie are both out due to injury. The starting offensive tackles for Tampa are still excellent, but as we Cowboy fans know, these injuries are sometimes hard to overcome. The Cowboys’ defense is outstanding. Guys like Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, Dorance Armstrong, and Sam Williams must be ready to create havoc. These four players should lead the way for the Dallas defense regarding sacks. Make Brady feel the pressure early and often; Dan Quinn can not let him settle in because if they do, it might be a long night for the Cowboys, take advantage of the weakness with your strength.
One of the keys to every week, not just against Tampa, is penalties. It will be on the list until we see it corrected and not change the outcome of football games. Be disciplined, and don’t give away free yards. Head coach Mike McCarthy said it himself back in March – the number one priority for the Cowboys this offseason was cleaning up the penalties. Who is to blame for all of those a season ago? Fourteen total flags in a playoff game, tying the playoff record in NFL history, is not ideal. As priority number one all offseason, you have to think McCarthy has been harping this on the players repeatedly. I mentioned the preseason start and all the flags they accumulated, but it was nothing but backups, and the following week they cut those in half and were not touched on again. Forty-seven of the Cowboys’ 127 from a season ago were pre-snap; those should be a more straightforward fix than others. Let’s hope they get it figured out.
Winning the turnover battle is tricky, and I say that because I genuinely believe the Cowboys only had a chance late in the game a season ago because they won the turnover battle and time of possession. If they can duplicate those on Sunday, I think they give themselves another great chance to win the game. Dallas only had 60 rushing yards in their game last year and had the ball for almost ten more minutes, I know they have a problem on the OL, but I think they rush for close to 100 and win the time of possession. The turnover battle is a coin flip. The Cowboys forced two fumbles and two interceptions a year ago and only gave it away once, and still couldn’t make one final stop to win the game after leading late into the 4th quarter.
There are plenty I did not hit on that will make an impact in this game, but these are just a few I see that could help the Cowboys hang around and have another chance at the end of the game to beat a Tom Brady-led team finally.