Tampa Bay Bucs vs. Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys ended the 2022 regular season the way it began – at a loss. After losing their Week 18 matchup to the Washington Commanders, the Cowboys get a rematch with the team that gave them a beating in Week 1 – the Tampa Bay Buccaneers led by Tom Brady aka father ttime. The 45-year-old future Hall of Famer is undefeated – 7-0 – against the Cowboys in his career.

Talk about bad luck and drawing the worst opponent. It’s not about the Bucs, it’s about Brady’s ability to pick up and lead his team. For some reason he has the cowboys number over the years. And Dallas is entering the postseason after not playing its best football in that 26-6 loss to Washington last week.

Dallas’ star QB Dak Prescott had a stinker of a game on Sunday, completing less than 38 percent of his passes, 128 yards through the air and a pick-six. That interception by Prescott propelled him to the top of the league at 15 this year – and he missed five games. Although the Cowboys come with a much better record (12-5) than the Bucs (8-9), it will be another early exit from the postseason if Prescott and the offense don’t bring their A-game. 1-2-3 Cancun!

Though the Cowboys won 12 games for the second year in a row, Prescott has been up and down for most of the year. He was sidelined for weeks two through six with a thumb injury and stayed there hit or miss since returning. Prescott has thrown at least one INT in each of Dallas’ last seven regular season games. In four of those games he had several passes taken away by opposing defences. Dak was even surpassed by Washington rookie Sam Howell, who surpassed him in completion percentage, passing yards, QBR, and passer rating. This was Howell’s first start and generally first action of the NFL regular season.

All the pride and energy the Cowboys had earlier in the season seems like just a memory. Indeed, Brady looks forward to helping Dallas remember how he’s picked apart their defense over the years. Seven wins and no losses is a large enough sample size to say Brady owns the Cowboys. This game in Tampa Bay is another hurdle for Dallas to overcome as they’ve played .500 (4-4) ball on the road this year.

Tampa Bay wasn’t great by any means, but it’s hard to count on Brady when everything is at stake, especially against the Cowboys. As a Buccaneer, Brady is 2-0 against Big D, wins a game in every stadium, and passes for nearly 600 yards and five touchdowns. Another feat similar to the Week 1 meet or the Washington game last week, and Jerry Jones might try to make some drastic changes.

Consecutive wild card losses after winning 12 games should not be tolerated. There is already talk of head coach Mike McCarthy’s job being on the line if the team loses in the first round. Last year they lost 23-17 to the San Francisco 49ers in the wild card home round. With Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh becoming available, another playoff loss for McCarthy in Dallas could spell the end.