Tag: Dallas Cowboys vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers

‘We were all over them’: Cowboys defense sinks 66-pass effort from Tom Brady

The greatest QB to ever play threw more passes than he ever has in one game, but the Cowboys defense had new wrinkles ready to stop him. | From @ToddBrock24f7

In what could end up being a landmark game in the football life of Tom Brady, the Cowboys forced the 23-year veteran to do something not even he had ever done before.

The Bucs’ 45-year-old quarterback put up a staggering 66 pass attempts in the wild-card loss to the Cowboys on Monday night, the most in any game of Brady’s pro career, and one of the highest numbers ever seen in an NFL game, postseason or otherwise.

The Cowboys had come into the contest expecting a heavy dose of the air attack, with Tampa Bay ranking last leaguewide in rushing attempts, rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, and yards-per-carry over the course of the regular season.

So the mission of Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn’s unit was clear: suffocate the notoriously quick-trigger Brady in the pocket, and simultaneously cut off his receiving targets downfield.

At the end of the 31-14 Cowboys victory, it’s safe to say the mission was accomplished.

“Defensively, I thought we were all over them as soon as we got off the bus. I think our defense really set the tempo for the game,” Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters in his postgame press conference.

Brady ended the night 35-of-66 passing for 351 yards, with two touchdowns, an interception, and a 72.2 passer rating.

His 66 attempts were the second-most all-time for a playoff game and put him in very rare company for the most passes thrown in any NFL game. Only ten other men have ever attempted that many throws in a single contest. Brady’s previous high was 65 attempts in a 2012 meeting between the Patriots and 49ers.

“Take away the deep shots they got,” Cowboys linebacker/edge rusher Micah Parsons said of the defense’s strategy after the win. “We made them earn it every time. I think that’s the key. We made the adjustments, did what we had to do. [We] said they couldn’t beat us deep. We executed our gameplan for the most part.”

Indeed. The Buccaneers had just one successful play of over 20 yards on the night.

The Cowboys defense stymied Brady with two sacks, six QB hits, and 12 defended passes.

“We got our hands on a number of balls today,” McCarthy commented. “I know we didn’t get the takeaways we normally get, but most importantly, we were in position for takeaways.”

The one takeaway they did get, however, was monumental. Jayron Kearse’s end-zone interception ruined an early second-quarter Tampa Bay drive which would have (likely) given the Bucs a 7-6 lead and changed the entire complexion of the game.

“We just would not and could not ever let him get to within distance of winning that football game, because he just goes to another level when those things happen,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said on 105.3 The Fan. “That’s his [m.o.], that’s his background. We basically managed our way and performed our way and kept him looking uphill all night long.”

And that included new players, new personnel groupings, and new wrinkles from a Cowboys defense that wanted to make sure they showed Brady something far different from the unit the Bucs thumped, 19-3, in the season opener.

“Everybody kind of knows you have to get to the quarterback someway, somehow,” offered Parsons. “My job had to go to the extra step, and going back-and-forth, blitzing on the ball, off the ball, giving him different looks. Understanding that they were sliding and chipping, trying to create short edges. We got creative today.”

Several key Dallas defenders were brand-new faces to Brady. Rookie cornerback DaRon Bland played only special teams in Week 1, but he was on the field for every defensive snap Monday night. Safety Israel Mukuamu was inactive on opening night; he logged a career-high snaps on defense in Tampa. Corner Xavier Rhodes and nose tackle Johnathan Hankins weren’t even on the Dallas roster for the two teams’ previous meeting.

But all played crucial roles for Quinn’s crew Monday, holding Brady to a completion percentage of just 53%.

“The biggest thing we were able to accomplish coming out of the last three weeks of the season was really to get our defensive personnel flowing,” McCarthy explained. “We had some new players we needed to try out in there, and you could see it clearly this week where we were really able to get into a groove and a rhythm. Dan was spitting the plays in there quickly, and I thought our defense played with great pace throughout the operation. Most importantly, they performed at an extremely high level.”

And when that happens on the defense, the Dallas offense tends to follow suit.

“Complementary football,” Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said from the podium. “I mean, that’s the way it’s been when this team is on fire. And when this team is on, they make stops, we turn them into points, and we just have to continue to build off of that. When we’re able to do that, we’re a tough team to beat.”

Even for the greatest quarterback to ever play the game, throwing more times than he ever has before.

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Luminaries: 3 Cowboys who shined brightest in victory over Bucs

The sky was clear on Monday night, allowing the Star’s stars to shine brightly in the wild-card round. | From @cdpiglet

The Dallas Cowboys exercised a lot of demons Monday night in Tampa Bay. They went into the game 1-4 when playing on grass. They were 1-6 wearing the navy blue jerseys in the playoffs. The team had never beaten Tom Brady, and they hadn’t won a road playoff game since Jimmy Johnson yelled, “How bout them Cowboys?’ after a win in San Francisco all the way back in 1992.

The team that had back-to-back 12-win seasons for the first time since 1996, cleared all those records off the slate with a dominating performance against the Buccaneers. Dallas had the edge in time of possession, turnovers, and total yards. They had less penalties, allowed less sacks, and beat Tampa in almost every way possible.

Minus four missed extra points and a failed onside kick recovery, the Cowboys played a pretty flawless game, which allows for multiple options for the three stars of the game, but who stepped up the most for a Dallas playoff victory?

Position grades, snap counts from Cowboys dominant dispatching of Tampa Bay

The Cowboys would’ve made the Dean’s List with their positional grades against Tampa Bay, but the special teams’ outing shut that down. | From @CDBurnett7

The Dallas Cowboys delivered one of their best performances of the season in Monday night’s wild-card round win. They shut out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first half before sealing the victory early in the fourth quarter. The 31-14 final, impressive on its own, may not accurately portray the dominance Dallas displayed in what could’ve been Tom Brady’s final game.

Quarterback Dak Prescott was the star of the show, delivering a signature performance, but it was a team effort to exorcise the team’s road playoff curse with their first such win since 1993. With the San Francisco 49ers next on the menu, here’s the positional and coaching grades from the Cowboys excellence after worries in Week 18 seem eons in the past.

Watch: Goat comedian clowns GOAT Brady in Cowboys-Bucs recap

Comedian @MrGo30 adds the Buccaneers to his long list of fried victims. Check out his wild-card short and other Cowboys-related videos. | From @KDDrummondNFL

Even with all its issues, we still can’t believe Twitter is free. You can find everything on Twitter following the Cowboys’ 31-14 domination of Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. From current and former player reactions, to fans and media chiming in and highlights, it’s all there. Also there, is skit comedian Brendan Clinton, aka Coach 30.

No one cuts up a losing NFL or CFB team like Clinton with his cast of characters. Playing coaches, players and sometimes media personalities like this week with Stephen A. Smith, if your team rode away from the stadium on the struggle bus, chances are he’s going to light you up. This week, Brady catches heat along with other Tampa Bay players, and then check out other Cowboys-related videos from the past couple of seasons.

‘Dak faked out the entire state of Florida’ and other great Cowboys-Bucs tweets

Here’s how Twitter responded to the Cowboys taking down Tom Brady and company. | From @ProfessorO_NFL

“How bout them Cowboys?” The Cowboys showed up on Monday night and left no doubt that they were the better team with a statement victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and legendary QB Tom Brady.

Scoring 31 points against a tough defense is impressive. Doing that on the road in the playoffs is even more impressive.  The defense set the tone early and suffocated the Bucs offense forcing multiple frustating possessions for Tom Brady and didn’t ease their grip until the game clock hit zero.

The Offense started out slow for two possessions before Dak Prescott and company exploded with multiple 80+ yard touchdown drives. The passing attack was surgical and Tony Pollard was the leading rusher.

Twitter reactions are always fun but they are even better after a Cowboys playoff victory. Without further adeiu, here is the best reactions to the Cowboys 31-14 win over the Bucs.

‘We need Brett’: Cowboys say they will stand by kicker despite horrific night

Brett Maher lived up to his nickname for most of the 2022 season, but an awful wild-card round brought questions about the kicker’s future. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The man they call “Money” sure picked a rough time to start coming up short. But the Cowboys maintain they won’t be making any change when it comes to the specialist position.

Kicker Brett Maher struggled through a historically-bad performance Monday night in Tampa, missing four of his five point-after-touchdown attempts. That makes him the first kicker since 1932 to miss four PATs in a single game.

To have it happen in the playoffs made it even more shocking… and ominous.

Thankfully, the game didn’t come down to a field goal, and those four lost points proved not to be a factor in the Cowboys’ demonstrative 31-14 win. But any games the Cowboys get to play from here on out will be against teams with much better records than the Buccaneers, and Maher’s sudden case of the yips would seem to be of serious concern moving forward in the postseason.

But despite Maher also missing a PAT- his only attempt- in Week 17 to connect on just one of is last six kicks, head coach Mike McCarthy intends to stand by the man who also scored more points in a single season than any Cowboy in history.

“We need Brett, and he understands that,” McCarthy told reporters in his postgame press conference Monday night. “We need to get back on it this week, and get him ready to go. Obviously, we are kicking in an outdoor stadium out there in Santa Clara.”

Maher had lived up to his nickname for most of the season, his second stint with the team (third if you count a brief two-week stay as injury insurance for Dan Bailey during the 2013 preseason). He had missed just three field goals- a 46-yarder and two from 59 yards- and connected on 50 of 53 PATs all year.

And he hadn’t missed multiple kicks in any game this season. Until Monday night.

It was so bad, according to Cowboys sideline reporter Kristi Scales, that the team was actually running out of kicking balls because Maher had sent so many into the stands.

“He’s disappointed,” McCarthy explained, “but we need him. We need him to focus in, and he’s been super clutch for us all year. So that’s the plan.”

After his first two attempts sailed wide right, Maher’s third try went left. Then the fourth hit the right upright and caromed away.

The veteran admitted afterward that he was likely trying too hard to overcorrect with his later kicks.

“In hindsight, I think yes,” Maher said via the team website. “I didn’t feel like that was my mentality going out there, but yeah, just not good enough.”

The 33-year-old was able to punch in his final PAT of the night, in the fourth quarter.

And despite quarterback Dak Prescott voicing his frustrations on the sideline- cameras caught him shouting, “Go for [expletive] two!” after one of Maher’s misses- the kicker says he was getting nothing but encouragement from teammates during his nightmare performance.

“I feel very fortunate to have the teammates that I do,” Maher said. “To be in the locker room and the coaching staff: they absolutely lifted me up today. I so appreciate every single one of them. It’s time for me to do my part.”

Even Prescott had come around by the time he spoke to media members after the win.

“I’m Money Maher’s biggest fan,” Prescott said. “Obviously, I’ve been shown the video of me; it’s just emotions, that’s part of it. I talked to him individually. Just told him after the game to let that go; we’re going to need him. I just played like [expletive] a week ago. I mean, that happens. But when you believe in each other, you believe in what we’re capable of doing and knowing what that guy has done, with the resiliency he’s shown throughout his career personally, no doubt he’ll come back next week and be perfect and help us win.”

Team owner Jerry Jones was just as confident in Maher in the moments after Dallas’s statement win, saying the team would not be trying out any new kickers prior to the weekend’s divisional matchup with the 49ers.

“No. No. We won’t,” Jones said Monday night. “He’s done enough good ones. I don’t think he’s blown the socket or whatever you do.”

But by Tuesday morning, Jones sounded a little less sold on Money’s spot being guaranteed.

“We’ll read this thing as the week goes along,” he told Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan. “I don’t want to get out over our skis and get ahead of it. I thought when he came out at halftime- I watched him warm up out there- he was making all the kicks. I figured that was behind him, but we will take a look at it. [It would be] really a big setback to go into the rest of this tournament, rest of this playoff, with shakiness at kicker.”

Adding to the uneasiness is Maher’s past history with the club. Good enough in 2018 to force Bailey’s release, Maher finished that season in the top 10 in field goals. And in 2019, he sank two from over 60 yards early in the season, only to have accuracy issues late in the year, leading to a December release.

He was good on better than 90% of both field goals and extra points in the 2022 regular season, his reunion tour with the Cowboys.

But on Tuesday, Jones even allowed for the possibility of carrying two kickers on the gameday roster if the the team feels it can’t rely on one.

“It’s an imposition to have to use up that extra roster spot,” the owner explained, “but it’s doable.”

Hall of Fame kicker Morten Andersen, now 62, jokingly threw his own cleats into the ring on social media during Maher’s performance.

Having two kickers on the playoff roster would be an extreme emergency plan, to be sure, but the Cowboys were almost forced into that sort of mindset Monday night versus the Bucs.

McCarthy confirmed that, had they not held a significant lead in their first-round tilt, they might have considered going for two-point conversions rather than continuing to send their struggling kicker onto the field.

“That’s definitely a consideration,” McCarthy said.

While the coaching staff explores all their options moving forward, Maher will simply keep plugging away, hoping that when he lines up for his next boot, the team will continue to look at him as money in the bank.

“Get back at it,” the kicker said of his plan for turning things around. “Hit some balls, have a great week of practice, get myself ready to go.”

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Cowboys injuries: Parsons, Kearse give positive updates; team ‘certainly concerned’ for Jason Peters

Micah Parsons and Jayron Kearse brushed off Monday’s in-game injuries, but Jerry Jones voiced concern for 40-year-old Jason Peters’ hip. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cowboys went into Raymond James Stadium feeling very good about their team’s health, with several marquee players back in the lineup.

After silencing the cannons in a dominant 31-14 win over the Buccaneers to advance to the next round, they left Tampa with a few new questions about who’s going to be available in next weekend’s divisional matchup.

Three notable Cowboys players either left the game early or were obviously dinged during the Monday night win. Two of them gave encouraging updates on their own health following the team’s first road playoff victory in 30 years.

Safety Jayron Kearse was a significant contributor to the clampdown on Bucs quarterback Tom Brady, recording three tackles, defending three passes, and intercepting an end zone strike to kill a Tampa Bay scoring drive. And in a defense that promised to show some new looks after a few weeks of late-season tinkering, Kearse found himself lining up at several different positions on the field.

But he was forced to exit the contest in the third quarter after suffering an apparent left knee injury. Kearse needed considerable assistance from team trainers just to get to the sideline, and he did not return to action.

On the first series with him off the field, Tampa Bay went 95 yards on 10 plays and scored their first touchdown on the night.

Despite what looked to be a severe injury, though, he hinted that he’ll be fine to face the 49ers on Sunday.

“It’s feeling all right,” Kearse told reporters at his locker following the win. “I’ll be good. It’s feeling all right. It’ll be all right.”

Newly-named All-Pro Micah Parsons also gave fans a scare.

After the final play of the first half, the linebacker/edge rusher was slow to get up with what appeared to be a leg injury, eventually limping toward the tunnel and stopping en route to massage the area around his right knee.

Replays seemed to show Parsons’s shin taking a hit, although some reports classified it as an ankle issue. Either way, Parsons played on, missing only three defensive snaps on the night and turning in a massive stat line.

He, too, gave a positive update to reporters afterward.

“I’m feeling good,” Parsons said. “I feel I finished the game well. Continued to get my pressure, continued to keep going, understanding the circumstances I was faced with. I’m excited for next week, excited for the matchup.”

Offensive lineman Jason Peters, however, may be less of a sure thing.

The veteran got the wild-card start at left tackle, but hobbled off the field in the second quarter. His absence, judged to be a hip injury, caused a shuffle along the line as rookie Tyler Smith slid over from the left guard position and Connor McGovern was forced to abandon the backfield blocking role he had been filling to take over at guard.

At halftime, Peters was ruled out for the rest of the game.

By Tuesday morning, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was trying to stay optimistic about the 40-year-old’s status.

“I certainly am concerned. I don’t know any more than we knew when we left there last night. We’ve got a little hope that it might not be serious,” he told 105.3 The Fan in referring to Peters. “But it’s important to realize that he’s not sitting here in his rookie year.”

Jones commented on the offensive line that started the game for Dallas, noting that Peters, Zack Martin, Tyron Smith, and Tyler Smith made for a formidable front… for the four series they were together.

“You can make the case that you’ve got four Hall of Famers there by the time it shakes out, at various stages of their career. That’s pretty solid to be there at this time of the year.”

Tuesday could be an important day, though, in determining whether that foursome will be there when the Cowboys take the field in San Francisco on Sunday.

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4 Takeaways: Yippie Brett Maher lone sad face as Cowboys’ coaches come through

Dak Prescott and Kellen Moore led the way for the Dallas Cowboys in their 31-14 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild card matchup. | From @BenGrimaldi

It’s just one game, but the Dallas Cowboys exorcised a lot of demons in their 31-14 blowout win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A wild-card win isn’t the ultimate goal but the Cowboys showed their mettle in winning a playoff game against one of the league’s best quarterbacks ever to wear a uniform.

Yet the better quarterback in this contest was the one with the star on his helmet. Cowboys QB Dak Prescott outplayed his legendary counterpart in an exquisite performance to help end several franchise droughts. The narrative that Dallas couldn’t win a playoff game on the road, or on grass, or in navy uniforms, or beat Tom Brady were all dispelled. Too many people forgot the Cowboys won 12 games this season, while the Buccaneers struggled to win just eight.

Those sins of the past had nothing to do with what would happen in this playoff game, and the Cowboys proved that this team wouldn’t let history decide the outcome. Here are four more takeaways from the Cowboys’ win over the Buccaneers.

Prescott’s amazing performance clears Josh Allen, closes in on Mahomes

The Cowboys QB wasn’t just the player of the game, he achieved things few others have. Get your highlights and internet-argument ammo here. | From @TimLettiero

The Dallas Cowboys are on their way to San Francisco after taking down Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in emphatic fashion. Simply put, everything other than the yippee kicker clicked on all cylinders Monday night. From the very beginning, the defense never relinquished an inch of ground and the offense quickly put their foot on the Bucs’ neck.

There was not much more that Dallas could’ve done to quiet their doubters and it was all led by the franchise QB1 himself, Dak Prescott. There’s been much talk about what kind of season Prescott has had and what his ceiling is, but at the end of the night his position among league quarterbacks was pretty clear.

What we learned from Cowboys crushing of Tampa Bay

The Dallas Cowboys taught the world three major things in their takedown of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. | From @ReidDHanson

There weren’t many good takeaways from the Cowboys Week 18 loss to Washington. The coaching staff didn’t strategize, the players didn’t execute and general effort was mailed in. In Monday night’s wild-card matchup in Tampa, Dallas provided some mighty takeaways.

The Cowboys weren’t getting much love by the talking heads before the game. Dallas was being treated more like the No. 5 seed and less like the 12-win team which boasted four more victories on the season than their Monday Night Football hosts. That didn’t stop Dallas from putting on a clinic, 31-14, teaching the NFL this season’s Dallas Cowboys are different from years prior. Here’s what we learned.