Bucks and Cowboys looking for fresh start in wild card matches

TAMPA, Florida (CBSDFW.COM/AP) – The Dallas Cowboys are currently 24-6 in their first playoff road game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Both star quarterbacks Tom Brady and Dak Prescott are hoping their regular season adversity will pave the way for a Super Bowl win.

GAME DETAILS:

DALLAS (12-5) vs TAMPA BAY (8-9)

WHAT TIME DO COWBOYS PLAY?

Monday 8:15 pm EST ESPN

FADUEL SPORTSBOOK NFL LINE: Cowboys at 2½.

AGAINST SPREAD: Cowboys 10-7, Buccaneers 4-12-1.

SERIES RECORD: Cowboys lead 15-6.

LAST MEET: The Buccaneers beat the Cowboys 19-3 on September 11, 2022 in Dallas.

LAST WEEK: Cowboys lost to Commanders 26-6; The Buccaneers lost to the Falcons 30-17.

COWBOYS ATTACK: OVERALL (11), RUSH (9), PASS (14), RESULTS (4).

COWBOY DEFENSE: OVERALL (12), RUSH (22), TRANSFER 8), RESULTS (5).

BUCANEER ATTACK: OVERVIEW (15), RUSH (32), PASS (2), RESULT (25).

BOOKER DEFENSE: OVERALL (T9), RUSH (15), PASS (9), RESULT (13).

TURN DIFFERENTIAL: Cowboys plus-10; Buccaneers minus-2

COWBOYS PLAYER TO WATCH: QB Dak Prescott ended the regular season with a career-worst seven-game stealing streak. He threw a pick-6 in three of his last four games. Prescott’s 15 steals made Houston’s three-win Davis Mills the NFL’s all-time leader, despite the 2016 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year missing five games with a broken thumb. The offense in Dallas was far better with Prescott than without him, but losses were a problem that could cost the Cowboys a playoff run.

BUCCANEERS PLAYER WATCH: QB Tom Brady broke his own NFL record for most completions in a season with 490 throws for 4,694 yards, third most in the league behind Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert. But those impressive numbers didn’t translate into a winning record as the Bucks struggled to weather the attacks and finished 25th in offensive scoring as Brady threw 25 touchdowns, up from 43 last season. Nobody has been better in the postseason than the seven-time Super Bowl champion, who holds the record for most playoff games (47), wins (35), passing yards (13,049), and TD assists (86).

KEY MATCHUP: Cowboys LB Micah Parsons against an offensive line of Pirates charged with protecting Brady. One clue to the numbers is whether Dallas’ passing rush under Parsons could make the Bucks star uncomfortable in the pocket. Parsons had two sacks in the Cowboys’ first loss to Tampa Bay and finished with 13½. The sophomore pro also led the league with 90 quarterbacks pressing. The Bucks’ offensive line has been a liability at times this season, in part because injuries forced young, inexperienced understudies into starting roles. LT Donovan Smith (foot) and RT Tristan Wirfs (ankle) did not play in the regular season finals last week. C Robert Hainsey left the final with a sore hamstring.

MAJOR INJURIES: The history of Dallas has more to do with the return of the players than the lack of players. LB Leighton Vander Ash (neck), DT Jonathan Hankins (chest) and C Tyler Biadash (ankle) are expected to return. Vander Ash missed the last three games of the regular season, Biadas was eliminated in the Finals and Hankins was out in the last four. … CB DaRon Bland didn’t play in the second half against Washington, but he’s expected to be available. The Cowboys have already suffered season-ending injuries from CB Jordan Lewis and Anthony Brown. …Besides Wirfs and Smith, Tampa Bay played their regular season finale without NT Vita Weah (calf), WR Julio Jones (knee), S Mike Edwards (hamstring/thigh), CB Carlton Davis (shoulder), LB Carl Nasib (chest). There is a chance that most – if not all – of them will return on Monday evening. The Bucks are also rating C Ryan Jensen, who was scheduled to return from injured reserve after sitting out the season with a knee injury sustained on the second day of training camp.

SERIES NOTES: The Cowboys have won both previous playoff meetings, each in the early 1980s. Dallas has won seven of the previous eight meetings before Brady’s teams have won the last two seasons. Brady is 7-0 all-time with 15 TD passes against five interceptions against the Cowboys. In those games, he averaged 277.9 yards per game.

STATISTICS AND OTHERS: The Cowboys are on an eight-game losing streak in the playoffs. The most recent victory was 30-20 in San Francisco in the NFC Championship game in the 1992 season. Dallas has won three of the next four Super Bowls. The Cowboys have not even reached an NFC title game since the last of those Super Bowl titles.

The Cowboys advance to the playoffs for the first time since the 2006 season, when Tony Romo infamously failed to delay a potential game-winning field goal in the last two minutes of a 21-20 loss in Seattle.

Dallas led the NFL with 33 rushes and became the first team since the 1972–1974 Pittsburgh Steelers to lead the league in that category for consecutive seasons.

The Cowboys had 48 sacks in 12 games, but only five in their last five games. They finished third in the NFL with 54 points after leading the league in sacking for most of the season.

This is the fourth playoff appearance in seven seasons for QB Dak Prescott and RB Ezekiel Elliott, whose remarkable rookie year together in 2016 led to the first seed in the NFC before a divisional round loss to Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. Prescott and Elliott are 1-3 in the playoffs after losing 23-17 last season at home to the 49ers.

RB Tony Pollard only had 19 yards against the Commanders, but that was enough for his first 1,000 yard season (1,007). Dallas rushed under 100 yards in back-to-back games to end the regular season for the first time in 2022.

Ezekiel Elliott’s career-best nine-game streak with at least one rushing TD ended against Washington. It was the longest active streak in the NFL.

WR CeeDee Lamb finished the regular season with nine touchdown catches, the club’s most since Dez Bryant’s franchise-record 16 in 2014.

Parsons had half a sack more than 13 last season when he was the NFL’s top defenseman. But Parsons has been capped 1 1/2 in his last six games.

Bland finished second among NFL rookies with five steals. That’s the most for a Dallas rookie since Derek Ross and Roy Williams each had five balls in 2002.

The Bucs won the NFC South for the second consecutive season, the first consecutive division titles in franchise history. Last year, they beat Philadelphia in an NFC wildcard game before losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round.

Since Brady’s arrival in 2020, the Bucks have won 37 games (including the playoffs) — third in the NFL behind the Kansas City Chiefs (44) and the Buffalo Bills (40).

Over the past two postseasons, the Bucks defense has made a league-record 16 turnovers. These clearances resulted in 72 points.

WR Mike Evans (1,124 points) is the first player in NFL history to start his career nine seasons in a row with at least 1,000 receiving yards. Chris Godwin (1023) returned earlier than expected with a serious knee injury to lead the team with 104 receptions and his third 1,000 yard season.

RB Leonard Furnett has 555 yards in five playoff games for the Bucks. Going back to 2017 with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Furnette scored a touchdown in seven consecutive postseason games.

The Cowboys hold an official party at the Miller Lite House at AT&T Stadium for those fans who can’t make it to the game in Tampa Bay, Florida.

The all-ages event will include videoboarding and outdoor TV, a performance by Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders and performances by some former Dallas Cowboys, as well as the official Rowdy mascot.

The event and parking are free, and if you’re looking for something to eat while you play, food trucks will be available. The gates will open at 17:30, and the broadcast of the game will begin at 19:15.

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