The Dallas Cowboys entered their Week 1 battle against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers playing with house money. The defending Super Bowl champs were unveiling a banner earned in their own house earlier this year, and were 8.5-point favorites and prior to the game, every NBC analyst picked the Bucs to win pretty comfortably. For the Cowboys, the true storyline was the return of QB Dak Prescott who last played a snap of live football in Week 5 of last season against the New York Giants.
How much rust was there going to be after two ankle surgeries and a training camp shoulder injury? None, apparently. Prescott was scintillating in his return, throwing the ball a career-high tying 58 times for 403 passing yards. It wasn’t enough as despite having the late lead, the referees swallowed the whistle on a potential offensive pass interference. Tom Brady found Chris Godwin inside the 20 with time winding down, and Ryan Succup nailed the 36-yarder with two seconds remaining to win 31-29.
While there are no moral victories in the NFL, the Cowboys certainly proved they belong with the best teams in the league by their performance. The defense gave up a lot of points, but they also forced four turnovers while limited the Bucs offense to just 57 yards on the ground.
It was special teams that did them in, with Greg Zuerlein missing both a short field goal and an extra point early in the game. Dallas chased those four points the rest of the game.
Passing Leader: Prescott 42 for 58, 403 yards, 3 TDs 1 INT, 101.4 rating
Rushing Leader: Ezekiel Elliott 11 carries, 33 yards, 2 receptions 6 yards
Receiving Leader: Amari Cooper 13 receptions, 139 yards, 2 TDs
Defensive Leader:
The Cowboys will have 10 days off to rest themselves before traveling out to Los Angeles to take on the Chargers and QB Justin Herbert.
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