Tag: 2023 Divisional Round

3 Keys to Cowboys exacting revenge on streaking 49ers

Getting the ball to the club’s most explosive players is probably a good idea, and a departure from what went wrong in 2021. | From @cdpiglet

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.

Penalty nosedive among 3 keys to Cowboys victory over Bucs

Things are much different than they were in Week 1, for both teams. Here are three factors to help Dallas reverse the outcome. | From @cdpiglet

As bad as last Sunday’s loss against the Washington Commanders looked, the team came away healthy and the result had zero impact on the overall standings for the Dallas Cowboys. Both the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers won their respective games in Week 18, so Dallas was destined to play Tampa Bay regardless. The Buccaneers lost their season finale as well, resting their starters for most of the game and insuring quarterback Tom Brady the first losing season of his career.

Neither of these teams are the same as they were in their Week 1 matchup. Tampa Bay, for a multitude of reasons, doesn’t have one of the best defensive units in football any longer, the Cowboys have Michael Gallup and T.Y. Hilton at receiver instead of Dennis Houston, and Dallas is down two starting cornerbacks in Jourdan Lewis and Anthony Brown.

The keys to victory in Week 1 mainly focused on both offensive lines, whether it was running the football for the Cowboys, or handling Micah Parsons for the Buccaneers, but is that still the case for their playoff matchup? Here are the keys to the Cowboys living to play another week this season with a win over Tampa Bay.