Cowboys dominate Buccaneers, advance to NFC Divisional Round to face 49ers

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1. The Cowboys won a road playoff game! You’ve probably heard it by now, but Dallas hasn’t won a postseason game played away from home since, well, this writer was a baby. Monday’s win was no surprise. Dallas was the stronger team entering a game against a division winner that owned a losing record. The Cowboys still have to find a way to get past the Divisional Round, something they haven’t done since the playoffs in 1995. But it has to feel so good for Dallas to go on the road and beat Tom Brady’s Buccaneers, especially the way which they did. The Cowboys justified their advantage on paper by playing swarming, attacking defense and finding an incredibly impressive groove on the offensive side of the ball. The only bad mark of the entire evening came in the kicking game, which we will cover later. A blowout win on the road is just what the Cowboys wanted to propel them into the divisional round with some momentum. And we can finally stop referencing their eight-game playoff drought, which was the second-longest active streak in the NFL.
2. Dak Prescott fires up the Bucs. We can’t dive into this point without first addressing offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who called Monday night’s masterpiece. Moore made several spectacular plays to attack Tampa Bay’s defense in key spots, sending CeeDee Lamb on the move to take the third down deep in the Bucs’ Cover 3, and Prescott held the safety in sight long enough for Dalton Schultz to execute a sharp stick nod and find the open space in coverage to catch a touchdown pass. Moore then wisely picked up a bootleg on fourth-and-goal, using Prescott’s mobility to get the Cowboys into the end zone for a second time. Meanwhile, Moore’s focus on a no-huddle approach broke down Tampa Bay’s defense, creating opportunities to move the chains and keep his foot on the pedal throughout the game. Prescott was masterful throughout, throwing for four touchdowns, completing 25 of 33 passes for 305 yards and finishing with a stellar 143.3 passer rating. Prescott could do no wrong. If he plays like this next week, the Cowboys will have a legitimate chance to beat the stingy, white-hot 49ers.
3. A disappointing season mercifully comes to an end for Tampa Bay. No one should have been surprised by what they saw from the Buccaneers on Monday night, not if they’ve seen them play more than the fourth quarter this season. Tampa Bay has long been a team with plenty of talent but not enough production to deal with it, slogging through most of their games this season before Brady’s late-game magic saved them from a couple of losses. Tampa Bay was that team again on Monday, struggling to move the ball effectively for much of the game and squandering its best scoring opportunity on a Brady pass thrown into the end zone after Dallas’ group effort denied him a chance to contact Chris Godwin. The Buccaneers made one last push, scoring a touchdown and recovering an onside kick, but their problems on offense surfaced again, leading to a turnover on downs. There will be a lot of questions to answer for the Buccaneers this offseason, and it will be interesting to see if offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich is still with this team next season. Tampa Bay is just too talented to be that bad with the football.
4. Another offseason of speculation begins for Tom Brady. Saddle up, partner. We’re about to embark on a journey through the vast wasteland that is the offseason of questions surrounding Brady’s future. We all know that 45-year-old Brady is well past the usual retirement age, but we haven’t gotten any indication that he’s done. Sure, he retired for the biblical 40 days last offseason, but that didn’t last. Brady had every reason to return to a Buccaneers team built to win now, but after a disappointing 2022 season, it’s fair to wonder if we’ve seen the last of Brady in pewter and red. We’ll spend a lot of time wondering if Brady will move elsewhere (Las Vegas, anyone?) or if he’ll finally call it quits. At this point, it would be more surprising if he retired than if he continued to play. One thing is certain: the discussions and debates about Brady’s future will continue into the new league year. Even if he wasn’t great on Monday night, he undoubtedly still can. And if anyone is likely to try again, it’s Brady.
5. Brett Maher spoils the sadness – and potentially saves his job. While the rest of the Cowboys were playing excellent football Monday night, Maher was decidedly not. Normally a reliable kicker (Maher made 90.6% of his field goals and 94.3% of his extra points this season), Maher had a historically terrible night at Raymond James Stadium, missing each of his first four extra point attempts, becoming in the first kicker to miss four punts in a regular season or postseason game since the stat was first tracked for individual players in 1932. The last of the four glanced off the uprights, adding insult to injury and confirming that apparently struggles a lot as a golfer when the club just doesn’t work. Maher couldn’t blame the equipment, though, and his teammates couldn’t bear to watch him attempt another kick in a game that should have been more of a blowout than it was. Fortunately for Maher, Mike McCarthy decided not to settle for a field goal, which led to Prescott’s touchdown pass to a wide-open Lamb on fourth-and-4 from Tampa Bay’s 18. kicks — converted the extra point, putting a much-needed end to his struggles and likely keeping him from being cut Tuesday. Perhaps it was an aberration; The Cowboys can write it off as a bad night for Maher if they want to keep him on the roster. The results of every other game should speak for themselves.

Next Gen Game Stats: Micah Parsons finished with 10 QB pressures and a sack on 58 passes Monday night, registering the most QB pressures in a playoff game in the Next Gen Stats era (dating back to 2016).

NFL Research: Dak Prescott became the fourth player in the Super Bowl era with four plus passing touchdowns and one or more rushing touchdowns in a playoff game, joining Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers and Matt Ryan. He also became the first Cowboy to score five-plus touchdowns in a playoff game in franchise history.