The Cowboys hosted the red hot Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but in the end it was the Cowboys that pulled out the win 26-20. Defensively, the Cowboys started out good, but then gave up 17 points, but then locked down the Bucs in the 4th quarter.
The ridiculous calls for Romo’s return should be shutdown after a solid win by Dak Prescott. Prescott returned to form and very accurate in the win going 32/36 for 279 yards and 1 rushing TD.
Here are my takes on the game:
- The Dak Knight Returned and played well. He looked good, poised and smart with the ball above all.
- Ezekiel Elliott gashed the vaunted Bucs defense to the tune of 159 yards and 1 TD
- Jason Witten had a nice game with 10 receptions for 51 yards, he did have a fumble that could have hurt the team, but the defense held up and no points came from it.
- David Irving – wow. This guy needs to be a fulltime starter. Irving has had some monstrous games, and today he was a one-man wrecking machine. 2 sacks, deflections, and several hurries.
- The defense overall was pretty stout, and they are getting the turnovers. 3 INTs, and 4 sacks
- Maliek Collins had a nice game with 1 sack and 1 forced fumble.
- 3rd down struggles continue. The offense was 5/13 on 3rd down. Not good.
- Doug Free is still giving up too much pressure, they need to upgrade RT.
- Penalties, penalties, penalties. This is killing us. The Cowboys had 8 for 91 yards. This is the stuff losing teams do, and they cannot afford to continue with the penalties in the playoffs.
- The Lucky Whitehead packages are as bad as the Lance Dunbar packages if not worse. He’s just not that good, more inconsistent than anything.
- Sean Lee led the team with tackles, the dude is a beast.
- I suspect Dan Bailey is still dealing with his injury from a few weeks ago. He has missed 3 field goals in two games now. Looks like he lost some power from 5o+
- Darren McFadden played sparingly, and I hope the continue to work him in and we see less of Dunbar on the field.
- Cowboys rushing defense is no joke, and quite impressive. They held Doug Martin to 42 yards.
The Cowboys did not clinch anything with the win, but next Monday Night against the Detroit Lions will be huge. The Cowboys can clinch with a win, and Giants loss.
Which player stood out the most to you, who gets the gameball? Take the poll below.
Cowboys win 26-20. Gameball goes to? #CowboysNation #DallasCowboys #TBvsDAL
— Joe Rodriguez (@CowboysBlogNet) December 19, 2016
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
