Dallas Cowboys Hold on Late to Beat Bucs 26-20
By Reid Hanson
The Dallas Cowboys move to 12-2 by beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26-20 and stay ahead of the surging New York Giants in the race for the NFC East.
Ezekiel Elliott and the Dallas Cowboys running game led the way on the night offensively. Zeke logged 159 yards on 23 carries keeping his sizable lead as the NFL’s leading rusher.
Dak Prescott went 32-36 for 279 yards, zero interceptions and 1 rushing touchdown. His 88.9 completion percentage (second best in NFL history) silenced many of his doubters after his terrible performance a week before.
But perhaps the biggest player of the game was rotational DE David Irving who resided in the Bucs backfield the entire second half of the game. He rushed passes, collected hits, tipped passes, and made sacks.
Irving is a player who’s been solid in the past but this night he was nothing short of dominant. This would be a great time for a star player to breakout and lean on heading into the playoffs when pass-rush is king.
Now for the Sport DFW Staff Quick Takes:
Dink Kearney
The Dallas Cowboys rebounded and beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and improved on the offensive side of the ball. Dak Prescott threw for 279 yards, hit eight different wide receivers and went 32/36 and one rushing touchdown and no interceptions.
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Dak definitely silenced the critics temporarily about a quarterback controversy. Keep in mind, one of Dak’s TD passes was called back because of a holding penalty on offensive lineman Tyron Smith.
Ezekiel Elliott carried the ball 23 times for 159 yards and a touchdown. Zeke has been the leader rusher on either team in 11 straight games , which is the longest streak by a rookie in NFL history.
The Cowboys should have won by more than a TD, but two missed field goals by Pro Bowl kicker Dan Bailey and the negated TD reception by running back Lance Dunbar kept the game close.
Penalties is one of the reasons the Cowboys struggled against the Vikings and Giants, and it happened to the Cowboys again against the Bucs. A few first downs were negated because of penalties and it put the Cowboys in 3rd and long.
The Dallas Cowboys defense deserves credit for sacking Jameis Winston 3 times, hitting him six times, and forcing four turnovers. The game ball goes to defensive lineman David Irving for recording a sack and harassing Winston throughout the game.
The Cowboys defense has seven turnovers in the last two games and is getting better by the week. And they did so without defensive linemen Cedric Thornton and Demarcus Lawrence.
This team is only getting better!
Dan Ruppert
The Cowboys again win a game they were trying to give away. Sure Prescott looked much better, Elliott was a monster, and Jason Witten is an Ironman, but it was far from playoff ready. The Cowboys must fix the dumb penalties or it could bite them in the playoffs.
Another issue is the odd play calling. Sometimes the Cowboys get too cute as evident on the failed end-arounds. Getting away from Elliot at times is also a head-scratcher.
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The best part of this win was the defense showed up again. David Irving has earned more playing time because he was a monster. A win next week and the Cowboys will get the NFC East.