Recapping the Week 1 Buccaneers-Cowboys game

3 takeaways from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' victory over the Dallas Cowboys as Dak Prescott's injury compounds poor performance

Week one of the 2022 NFL season could not have gone much worse for the Dallas Cowboys as they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Not only did they lose 19-3 in front of their own fans, but quarterback Dak Prescott injured hs thumb and will miss several weeks. All questions about Tom Brady's offensive line were answered as Dallas struggled to stop the Buccaneers' running game.

Here are my three biggest takeaways from the Buccaneers-Cowboys game:

#1. The Buccaneers have the physicality to overwhelm most teams in the NFL

Much of this offseason for the Buccaneers centered around retirement and the un-retirement of Brady, along with having added two more receivers of note in Russell Gage and Julio Jones. But what really stood out from Sunday Night's opener was their running game and defense. Brady had a so-so day, but Leonard Fournette was the driving force for this attack.

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He carried the ball 21 times for 127 yards on the night, with consistent success on all three downs. You see some of the influence from Todd Bowles (in situations where they would usually call up shot-plays on like second-and-one), but instead they smashed the ball up the middle once more. Over and over again, they would let the O-line block down and use Shaq Mason at what he does best – pulling on kick-outs and lead-blocks.

Defensively, they were in nickel personnel basically the entire game, which is why you saw five-yard runs from Ezekiel Elliott when they let him hit vertical from under center. But despite Tony Pollard having a nine-yard run on a nice cutback, he finished the day with just eight yards on six attempts. The Cowboys couldn’t run from the shotgun, having to catch up on the scoreboard.

Pollard in general had a bad day as Devin White ran through him on several occasions (two packs plus three other pressures). That was also true for the re-shuffled offensive line, as Shaq Barrett provided constant heat off the edge (even if he didn’t actually register a sack) and Vita Vea was driving those interior guys on the left into the quarterback’s lap.

#2. The Cowboys weren’t a championship contender this season before the Dak injury

Speaking of Shaq Barrett being a thorn in Dak Prescott’s eye. Barrett was the one who sort of high-fived with the Cowboys QB twice, which led to him needing surgery on his broken thumb and knocking him out for six to eight weeks.

However, while I don’t just want to overreact to week one, I predicted them to just miss out on the playoffs before the season started and I’m here to tell you – this is not a Super Bowl team. I think they lost way too many key pieces on both sides of the ball, they don’t play a very disciplined brand of football and Mike McCarthy’s game-management has been problematic to say the least.

The offense kind of just ran their stuff, without any cool wrinkles that stood out to me. Tyron Smith's injury, of course, is huge and first-round pick Tyler Smith isn’t ready to start at tackle in the NFL. Prescott and Cooper Rush combined for just under 200 passing yards, as nobody on the outside was able to win, allowing the bodies on the inside to flow towards CeeDee Lamb. While Elliott did have a few good carries plowing on the inside, the only Cowboys rush of 10+ yards came from Dak Prescott. Altogether, they gained just 12 total first downs.

The defense did show some positive signs, with Micah Parsons coming up with a pair of sacks to force a couple of field goal attempts in the red zone (one missed), but Leonard Fournette ran between the tackles effectively against them. The two sacks by Parsons were the only ones on the day. Adding insult to injury, they were called for ten more penalties worth 73 yards. Since I saw this suggested on Twitter by a lot of people, I don’t believe trading for Jimmy Garoppolo will be the solution here.

#3. Julio Jones still has something left in the tank – and that makes the Buccaneers scary

When the Buccaneers signed Julio Jones back in late July, I suggested on Twitter that they may have four of the top-25 receivers in the NFL this season. A random NFL stats page commented on how Jones will never be a top-25 receiver again. Are you sure, my guy? As a huge fan of Julio Jones since his early days at Alabama, I was still a believer. Even though I know at this stage of his career, he’s very vulnerable to soft-tissue injuries. Even I was surprised to see him come out catching passes from Brady right away.

On his first touch of the day, he caught a little slip screen and trucked the safety for an eight-yard gain. He had a beautiful curl route out of the slot, where he really took his head down and sold vertically, only to make the nickel run off the screen when he snapped it off. And then of course he gained a step on Anthony Brown for a diving grab on a fade route worth 48 yards.

He nearly had another huge shoe-string grab at the sideline on a play-action shot, where he flattened across the free safety on a post route. You saw the speed to get around the edge on a couple of jet sweeps they handed to him, for another 17 yards. If he can be like 70% of what we’ve seen from him in the past, along with that trio they already had and with Brady spreading the ball around – buckle up.

Check out my piece on the full Week 1 slate at halilsrealfootballtalk.com !