I’m not sure who thought that the Bucs vs Cowboys would be a great start to the season, but this matchup is terrible. Historically, the NFL schedules an important matchup for the opening game of the season. However, this time the NFL scheduled the Super Bowl winner to face a team that probably won’t even make the playoffs.
Bucs vs. Cowboys Matchup
Might as well break down the matchup. Let’s start with the Tampa Bay offense vs the Dallas defense. Let me also remind you that Tampa is running everything back. They have all of their starters from the Super Bowl, which is quite remarkable. The Buccaneers specialized in defending Tom Brady and allowing him to stretch the field with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.
We know how deadly this formula is, can Dallas counter the offense at all. No. The pass rush and run containment were abysmal for Dallas last year. Fortunately for the Bucs, they didn’t specialize in the ground game until Playoff Lenny became a thing. Trevon Diggs proves to be a great outside corner for Dallas who can only get better, so he will be on Mike Evans. Ok, that won’t stop Evans from going up and contesting 50/50 jump balls. Plus, I don’t trust any of Dallas’ corners to limit Chris Godwin. Great. So far not so good for Bucs vs Cowboys.
How about the Dallas offense vs the Bucs defense? If you check injury reports, specifically the COVID list, you’ll see that things are about to get ugly. Hey Lemony Snicket, let’s look at this series of unfortunate events in these tweets.
More on Cowboys’ Pro-Bowl guard Zack Martin testing positive for COVID and being out for Thursday night’s opener, via @toddarcher.https://t.co/5P11jymEpI
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 5, 2021
Buccaneers activated Ndamukong Suh from the Reserve/COVID-19 list.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 6, 2021
I really wanted to slam my head on my desk when I read this, but then again, I wasn’t surprised. Something was destined to go wrong. What else is there to say? Dak will be running for his life.
Why?
Why? Does anyone have a logical explanation why this is the first game of the year? Anyone? Bueller? I wrote a few weeks ago about why the Cowboys are going to be mediocre. From the time this game was scheduled until now, the Cowboys only became slightly better. Do you know what could’ve been a great matchup? New England vs Tampa. Or Kansas City vs Tampa. Or even Kansas City vs Buffalo. I just gave you three matchups with a million different storylines each. Instead, we get Bucs vs Cowboys.
Look, I’m a Cowboys fan. I may have fooled you here, but I really am. I just don’t want to be slapped around and embarrassed for the first game of the year. If you want to see my depressed tweets during the game, feel free to give me a pity follow here. Also be sure to check out Belly Up Sports for more sports coverage.
