Cowboys vs. Buccaneers: Dallas Was Outplayed, Outcoached and Outmuscled | Broaddus's Scout's Eye
There are losses during an NFL season that you can understand, and then there are losses that leave you scratching your head. For the Dallas Cowboys, Thursday night's 24–16 defeat against the previously winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers falls into that second category.
What concerns me most isn't necessarily the final score. It's how the Cowboys lost this game.
Tampa Bay came in with a rookie quarterback making his second career start, and instead of forcing him to beat them, Dallas allowed the Buccaneers to dictate how this game was going to be played.
The Buccaneers were more physical at the line of scrimmage, ran the football effectively and controlled the clock. Defensively, Todd Bowles presented enough different looks to disrupt what had been a productive Dallas passing attack.
For me, this game came down to three things: the inability to stop the run, the failure to handle Tampa Bay's pressure packages, and three costly turnovers.
The Run Defense Was a Major Disappointment
If you're going to play against a rookie quarterback, one of the first things you have to do is take away the running game.
Dallas failed miserably in that department.
Tampa Bay finished with 241 rushing yards, with Bucky Irving accounting for 165 of them. His 72-yard run to open the second half completely changed the direction of the game.
What bothers me about this performance is the amount of movement Tampa Bay generated up front. When you have Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark in the middle of your defense, you expect to be stronger against the run.
There is a difference between getting physically blocked and being out of position. Dallas appeared to have problems with both.
The Cowboys have to do a better job of controlling their gaps, getting off blocks and bringing multiple defenders to the football. You can't allow a running back to consistently find space and turn ordinary plays into explosive gains.
Tampa Bay knew exactly what it wanted to do offensively, and Dallas couldn't stop it.
Jalon Daniels Was Too Comfortable
Give the Buccaneers' coaching staff credit. They understood exactly how they needed to approach this game with Jalon Daniels at quarterback.
They weren't going to ask him to throw the football 40 times. They were going to run it, stay ahead of the chains and give him manageable throws.
Daniels completed 19 of 25 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown. For a quarterback making just his second NFL start, that's an efficient performance.
What disappointed me was Dallas' inability to create enough negative plays.
There weren't enough situations where Daniels was forced to hold the football, identify complicated coverage or deal with pressure directly in his face.
The Cowboys allowed Tampa Bay to convert seven of 13 third downs. That's unacceptable when you're facing a quarterback with such limited NFL experience.
Dallas needed to make Daniels uncomfortable. Instead, Tampa Bay controlled the game and kept its quarterback in manageable situations.
The Secondary Continues to Concern Me
One of the biggest plays came when Daniels connected with Tez Johnson for 64 yards. DaRon Bland lost his position in coverage, and Johnson was able to get down the field for the explosive completion.
Those are the types of plays that continue to hurt this defense.
Dallas has struggled with communication and coverage discipline throughout the season, and the problems showed up again against Tampa Bay.
My hope is that Christian Parker gets some of his injured players back in the secondary. I feel like he's playing with a short stick at the moment, particularly at cornerback.
Getting those players back would give him more options with personnel and coverage combinations. It could also help the pass rush if the secondary can cover longer and allow the front to finish its rush.
But the defense needs to show improvement regardless of who's available.
Todd Bowles Had the Better Plan
On the other side of the ball, Todd Bowles did an outstanding job of disrupting the Cowboys' offensive rhythm.
Bowles has always been willing to bring pressure, but what makes his defense difficult is how he disguises where that pressure is coming from.
Dallas never appeared completely comfortable identifying what Tampa Bay was presenting before the snap.
Dak Prescott finished with 316 passing yards and a touchdown, but those numbers don't tell the entire story. He was under pressure, the offense struggled to sustain drives, and too many possessions depended on individual plays rather than consistent execution.
The Buccaneers made Dallas work for everything.
George Pickens was outstanding, finishing with nine receptions for 130 yards and a touchdown. But the Cowboys didn't get enough production from the rest of their offensive weapons.
CeeDee Lamb's limited involvement before leaving with a quadriceps injury certainly didn't help. Lamb finished with just two catches for nine yards.
The Cowboys have enough offensive talent to compete with anybody, but they need to do a better job of creating opportunities for that talent to make an impact.
Three Turnovers Changed the Game
You cannot turn the football over three times and expect to win consistently in this league.
Both of Prescott's interceptions came on tipped passes, so I wouldn't automatically place all the blame on the quarterback. But those plays still cost Dallas valuable possessions.
The first interception came when a pass was deflected into the air and intercepted by Yaya Diaby. Later, Alex Anzalone secured the decisive interception after a pass bounced off Jake Ferguson's hands.
Those plays hurt.
KaVontae Turpin's fumble was especially damaging. Tampa Bay recovered the kickoff return fumble and converted the possession into a field goal, extending its advantage.
The Buccaneers scored 17 unanswered points in the third quarter. That's where Dallas lost its grip on the game.
The frustrating part is that the Cowboys had opportunities to make plays themselves but failed to capitalize.
You can't give an opponent that many extra opportunities and expect to overcome it.
Dallas Has to Become a More Physical Football Team
The Cowboys are now 2–3, and this is a difficult loss to explain away.
You can point to the turnovers, the short week or the injuries, but the reality is Tampa Bay came into Dallas with a clear understanding of how it wanted to play and executed that plan better than the Cowboys.
The Buccaneers didn't have to do anything extraordinary offensively. They blocked, ran the football and kept their rookie quarterback out of difficult situations.
For Dallas, the biggest concern is that the defensive problems aren't new.
The inability to consistently stop the run, the communication issues in the secondary and the lack of pressure at critical moments continue to show up.
Offensively, the Cowboys have enough talent to compete with anybody. But when you're only getting 20 minutes of possession, you're asking your quarterback to be nearly perfect.
That's not realistic.
My biggest takeaway from this game is simple: The Cowboys have to become a more physical football team.
You can talk about schemes, adjustments and personnel packages all you want, but until Dallas can consistently win at the line of scrimmage, opponents are going to continue attacking this defense the same way.
And after watching what Tampa Bay did Thursday night, why wouldn't they?
THE SCOUT'S EYE
My hope for this defense is that Christian Parker gets his injured players back in the secondary to at least give him a chance to make some adjustments.
Right now, I feel like he's playing with a short stick, particularly in the secondary.
Getting some of those players back could give him more flexibility with his coverages and potentially help the pass rush by allowing the defense to cover longer.
But there has to be a change.
The Cowboys have to tackle better, get off blocks, control the line of scrimmage and create more difficult situations for opposing quarterbacks.
Tampa Bay came into this game winless, started a rookie quarterback, and still dictated how the game was played.
That's the most disappointing part of this loss.
Dallas has to be tougher, more disciplined and more consistent. Until that happens, the same problems are going to keep showing up on tape.
— Bryan Broaddus
The Cowboys have had these same problems as far back as 2018 against the Rams in the playoffs. Not being tough and/or good enough in the trenches to be able to stop the run isn’t a scheme thing or a coach thing it’s a players thing and we have completely overhauled the players in the last decade. The issue has to be Culture, these players fall into the Cowboys culture and they tend to read their press clippings and get soft, especially against teams everyone is saying the Cowboys are going to beat. The Cowboys spoil their players similarly to how the University of Texas spoils theirs. They get good players but ruin them mentally with their culture and it…