The Dallas Cowboys throttled the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night, ending many bad streaks for the organization. Dallas has a poor history over the past 25-plus years, so much so that even though Dallas was a 12-5 team facing off against an 8-9 opponent, many prognosticators chose the Buccaneers to beat them.
The Cowboys vanquished the most accomplished quarterback in NFL history and set up a rematch with the team that eliminated them from the playoffs last season. The 49ers came into AT&T Stadium and physically dominated Dallas, rushing for 169 yards while only allowing 45 yards to Cowboys running backs on 16 attempts. Dak was sacked five times and pressured over 20 times. The game wasn’t even as competitive as the final score of 23-17 would indicate that it was.
But this is a new season, with different versions of these teams. Here are the keys to the Cowboys upsetting the 49ers in San Francisco.