Dallas Cowboys vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers Prediction & Match Preview - September 09th | NFL Week 1
The NFL kicks off its 2021 regular season with a game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the reigning champions, and the most popular franchise in the league, the Dallas Cowboys.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys face each other after seven long months without meaningful football, opening the first 17-game regular season ever. The game will see two strong offenses battling each other in what promises to be one of the best matchups of the entire first week.
Dak Prescott, returning from surgery that ended his 2020 season prematurely, will have to fend off Tom Brady and a star-studded roster that became the first Super Bowl winner at its home stadium back in February. The 22 starters from the Super Bowl are back with the Buccaneers for the '21 season, the first team to ever do so.
Without further ado, check out our preview for the NFL Kickoff between the Buccaneers and the Cowboys:
NFL Kickoff - Buccaneers vs. Cowboys Preview
Can the high-powered Cowboys' offense upset the reigning champions? If you think the game will be easy for the Buccaneers, you better think twice.
Cowboys' new-look defense will give Brady a lot of trouble
The Cowboys had an incredibly bad defense last year, as the players never managed to fully grasp Mike Nolan's Tampa 2 Base defense.
Out goes Nolan, enters Dan Quinn, the former Atlanta Falcons head coach who did a great job as the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks in their back-to-back Super Bowl appearances last decade. Quinn employs a cover-3 base scheme, who will be mostly relying on Malik Hooker, Jourdan Lewis, and Trevon Diggs to cover the deep field.
The key for the Cowboys, however, has never played a single regular-season game. Micah Parsons will step into the middle linebacker as a rookie and his presence on the field will make everything better. His ability to attack the rushing lanes and his athleticism enable him to cover from one sideline to the other. The defense will have a fantastic player who can do it all and this will be a great factor, especially in the running game.
Now, how much will Dan Quinn blitz? If they give Tom Brady time, you can forget about this game. The Buccaneers had one of the worst offensive lines in pass protection last year against the blitz, and Brady had huge problems last year when pressured. It's a risky gamble, but that's how they can beat the Buccaneers.
Buccaneers: attack the sides of the field
An unbelievable stat about the Buccaneers' offense in 2020 is that Brady threw 33 touchdowns and 6 interceptions when throwing outside the hatches, but 17 touchdowns and 9 interceptions between them. This is interesting, considering the quality of Tampa's tight end group.
It is what it is though. If the matchup between the Cowboys' powered offense and the Buccaneers' strong defense is fair, the Buccaneers' offense should have a much easier job when they have the ball. The key to beat Dallas goes through keeping Tom Brady safe in the pocket and exploring the favorable matchups between Tampa's receivers and Dallas' defensive backs.
Prediction
A huge part of deciding who's going to win goes through how much will the Cowboys pressure Tom Brady during the game. While Dallas' defense should look much better this year with Dan Quinn calling the shots, it's still a group that won't be able to fully stop Brady and the Buccaneers.
It's going to be a game tighter than some people are expecting it to be, but the Buccaneers will prevail in the end.