Could it be that time again already? Hey it is! The NFL is back for the 2021 season and that means the return of my Monday Morning Quarterback posts. Whether you like it or not!
Just kidding. I know you love it.
The return of NFL action means my Sundays are now booked until we hit Super Bowl LVI in February because I am a responsible person who takes social distancing seriously. It has nothing to do with the fact that I enjoy yelling at my television more than I like interacting with society.
Anyway the NFL decided to start this season off with a bang. As tradition dictates, the defending Super Bowl champs start the year with a home game. But c'mon, who was excited about that? Even the Patriots fans hate Tom Brady now and the Buccaneers had around a dozen fans before all the bandwagoner's hopped on board. This kickoff game needed some juice and only one NFL team could provide it.
America's Team!
Like it or not, and I know you hate it, the Cowboys are still the kings of the NFL in terms of ticket sales and television ratings.
Anyway that's enough bullshit. Time to talk about our 2021 kickoff game. If you are a new reader of this series just remember I am a Dallas Cowboys fan and I'm extremely biased. Feel free to agree or disagree about anything mentioned here. All comments are welcome.
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No Moral Victories in NFL ... or so they say
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The Dallas Cowboys traveled to Tampa Bay to try to upset the defending Super Bowl champs but only came away with a moral victory as the Buccaneers kicked a last second FG to win 31-29. Even though the good guys lost it was an exciting game to kickoff the 2021 NFL season.
The Cowboys sure had a lot of questions heading into this game. How would Dak Prescott look after his season-ending ankle injury from a year ago? How serious was Dak's preseason muscle injury? Would last year's historically awful defense show any improvement? Could the offensive line hold up against a devastating pass rush without All-World lineman Zack Martin? Did head coach Mike McCarthy learn anything about football since last year's debacle?
On the flip side, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had zero questions coming into this matchup. In an extremely impressive example of salary cap management, the Bucs returned all 22 starters from last year's championship team. That hadn't been accomplished since the Steelers did it last in 1979. Wow. No wonder the Cowboys were a whopping 9.5 point underdog by kickoff. Nobody was giving them a chance.
Except me of course. I am their #1 fan after all. Oh, and I guess slightly more importantly the Cowboys themselves were ready to play and refused to be intimidated.
I was surprised by the Cowboys game plan on offense. I thought they would try to ease Dak Prescott back into action by leaning on the running game, at least early on. Success on the ground would also keep Tom Brady off of the field while the clock was running, which is always a good thing.
Nope. Dallas came out throwing early and often. The Bucs have a stout run defense so Dallas didn't challenge them. Instead they concentrated their offense on quick short to intermediate passes in order to get rid off the ball before the pass rush could reach Prescott. It worked. It really worked. Prescott (42/58, 403 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT) had a great game against a tough defense. Even his turnover was an excellent pass that slipped right off the hands of CeeDee Lamb.
Mike McCarthy's 49er past was showing in this game. Using short passes to take the place of a running attack is an old school Bill Walsh maneuver. It was effective in keeping the clock and the ball moving.
Surprisingly the Cowboys offense was more efficient than the Bucs. The Cowboys held a nearly 10 minute time of possession advantage, made more first downs, converted a higher % of third downs and turned the ball over less.
Tampa was able to do one thing better and that was make big plays. Tom Brady (32/50, 379 yards, 4 TDs, 2 INTs) showed he can still beat the hell out of Father Time, especially in hooking up with Antonio Brown (5 rec, 121 yards, 1 TD).
The Cowboys defense looked at least a little better, but giving up big passing plays was a big problem last year and cost them in this game too. That needs to be cleaned up unless Dallas wants to play in shootouts all season. The defense did show improvement in stopping the run as the Bucs only gained 52 yards on 15 rushes.
Tampa's big plays threatened to blow this game open a few times, but their turnovers let Dallas hang in there and eventually take a late 29-28 lead with a 1:24 remaining. Yet that is too much time to give a veteran like Tom Brady. He calmly led his offense down the field to kick a game winning FG.
There was a slight bit of controversy on the Bucs final drive as wide receiver Chris Godwin appeared to push off Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis before making a big catch that put Tampa into field goal range. A penalty might have sealed the upset for Dallas, instead no flag was thrown. That call could have gone either way. You can be the judge:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1436175806993256453
- i
Of course that call might not have mattered if Cowboys kicker Greg Zeurlein hadn't missed a 35-yard FG attempt and an extra-point. Zeurlein had offseason back surgery and missed the preseason, he still looked rusty.
The Buccaneers offense was up and down, but the ups were really high and they did score 31 points. Turnovers prevented them from scoring more. They better work on the running game, having Brady throw 50 passes a game isn't a good idea. The defense wasn't great, mainly the secondary. The Bucs pass rush only sacked Dak once, the corners struggled with coverage. Fixable issues for Tampa Bay. They will host the Atlanta Falcons next week.
If having Brady throw 50 times a game isn't a good idea, having Dak throw 58 times a game is even worse. Although Dak looked great, McCarthy has to figure out how to get Zeke Elliott going again. The Dallas defense showed some life, but they are still susceptible big passing plays. It was definitely a moral victory to nearly upset the champs on the road, but moral victories don't count in the standings. At least the Cowboys have something to build on. They travel to Los Angeles next week to take on the Chargers.
Well that wraps up week one. Wait, their are other games this weekend? You mean the entire NFL universe doesn't revolve around Dallas? Huh, I'll be damned.
In that case this wraps up the 2021 kickoff game post. I'll have another post out next week recapping the rest of the week one action. Try to contain your excitement. Thanks for reading and feel free to leave any comments below. In the meantime I have to let my family and friends know they can't bother me now until February.
