Game Recap: Cowboys Lose Opener to Bucs, 19-3 Dallas Cowboys vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Game Recap: Cowboys Lose Opener to Bucs, 19-3 Dallas Cowboys vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Falling at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 19-3, in front of a sold-out crowd of 93,797 fans, the Cowboys couldn't muster much in the way of any offensive threat. The offensive line's performance was decent under the circumstances, but consistency and penalties were an issue.

Game Recap: Cowboys Lose Opener to Bucs, 19-3 Dallas Cowboys vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

With the regular season approaching, the two biggest concerns at the Dallas Cowboys center were hardware Broad reception and offensive line. If this opener is any indication, they have a lot to worry about...and now they have to add the quarterback to that list plus Dak Prescott is expected to miss a few weeks with a hand injury.

For their part, the receiving wire struggled pretty much to create space, and so Dak Prescott, who was by no means slick, completed 14 of 29 pass attempts for 134 yards and a passer-rated 47.2. The new CeeDee Lamb #1 was targeted wide 11 times but only pulled in two passes for 29 yards.

Even worse, Prescott then had to leave the match with five minutes remaining with an injury to his hand which he received, and the X-ray results were reported. But Duck said after the game that he expects to have surgery on his thumb and the Cowboys look like he's going to miss a few games.

Perhaps the only bright spot in the attack was Ezekiel Elliott, averaging 5.2 yards per carrying. However, after much talk of the team's reliance on the running games, Elliott only delivered the ball 10 times, finishing with 52 yards streaming into the night. Meanwhile, although there was talk of making Tony Pollard more involved, he managed just eight yards on six gigs, averaging 1.3, with two cuts for another 14 yards.

Of course, this season, the Cowboys knew they were going to have to rely on their defense, and led by Micah Parsons, last season's top defensive rookie, the unit at least kept this game from spiraling out of control completely. However, future Hall of Famer Tom Brady did what Tom Brady did, passing for 212 yards and down for a rating of 87.3.

Leonard Fournette's running back probably did more damage, as he sped for 127 yards on 21 gigs. He and the Buccaneers' defense, which held Dallas to 244 yards of attack, proved to be too much in this. By comparison, Tampa Bay had 347 total foul yards.

First Quarter

The two sides exchanged field goals in their opening lead of the game as Brett Maher split the tops from 51 yards. Tampa Bay's Ryan Sukop then answered with a 44-yard field goal of his own.

Unfortunately, the Cowboys took a hit during their first possession when left-hander Conor McGovern left the game with an ankle injury. For an already thin attacking streak due to the loss of Tyron Smith, seeing another player sidelined was something they definitely couldn't stand.

Succop made it two-for-two in the first two Buccaneers series because this time he was good from 38 yards, giving the visitors an early lead.

Second Quarter

The Buccaneers marched into the Cowboys again with their third possession, but after Parsons fired Tom Brady in third and eighth, Dallas got a breather when Sukop pulled his kick to the left. Despite this, the Cowboys couldn't take advantage of the chaos.

Quite the opposite actually as on the third and tenth of his 26-yard line, Prescott was then picked up by Tampa Bay safety Antoine Winfield, the Buccaneers were established in the Dallas 23-yard line. Fortunately, the defense held out with Parsons picking up his second sack of the night to force another goal attempt. This time the Succop was good from 29 yards.

Another campaign in Tampa Bay, another opportunity for field goals. The Dallas defense was keeping the Buccaneers away from the end zone, but the visitors entered the second half with a 12-3 advantage after Succop fired a 47-yard field goal 14 seconds before the end of the second quarter.

Perhaps the Cowboys should have felt lucky that they were only down by nine. In the break, the Buccaneers outscored the Cowboys for 294 yards for only 94 yards, of which only 53 came through the air.

Third quarter

After knocking on the goal line door so many times, the pirates finally walked through it. Starting at their 10-yard streak with just over eight minutes left in the quarter, the Buccaneers started with three straight runs for Fournette for 37 yards. Then came Brady's turn as he completed 4 of 5 passes for 39 yards, the last of which was a 5-yard toss for Mike Evans on the left side of the end zone for the game's only touchdown.

With that said, the Buccaneers already seem to have an insurmountable 19-3 lead heading into the final quarter.

The fourth quarter

Desperate to add to their point total, the Cowboys went on to get her fourth and second on the Buccaneers' 41-yard line, but Prescott's pass to junior Dennis Houston was slanted and fell incomplete. Only three times I settled into Tampa Bay's next possession, though, did Donovan Wilson grab the safety at Brady's show, and his interception awarded Dallas the ball at the 48-yard line.

Still unable to do anything on the attack, the Cowboys' night waned further when Prescott had to leave the game late in the fourth quarter after hitting his hand in back-to-back plays. He was heading to the locker room shortly after Cooper Rush entered the game.

Obviously, the clock couldn't hit zeros fast enough. Once that happened, the Cowboys headed into the second week of the 2022 season.