By Tom Krasniqi

 

The offense was supposed to be the stronger unit than the defense.  But that wasn’t the case Sunday as the Buccaneers offense looked downright anemic in a 16-10 loss to the Cowboys in Dallas.  Bucs now 1-2 on the season while the Cowboys improve to 2-1.  The Bucs had just 166 yards of total offense.

Bucs defense was much maligned last week but they coaxed Tony Romo into an interception on the game’s first possession.  Aqib Talib picked off Romo and set the Bucs up at the Dallas 29.  Tampa Bay converted a 4th and 1 on a Doug Martin run to the 1-yard line.  Then, Josh Freeman found Luke Stocker on a 1-yard TD pass to give the Bucs an early 7-0 lead.  But later in the quarter, Freeman was picked off by linebacker Sean Lee as his pass went off the hands of D.J. Ware.  That set up the Cowboys in Bucs territory.  DeMarco Murray finished it off with a 9-yard TD run to tie the game at 7-7.

Cowboys capitalized on another Bucs mistake in the 2nd quarter.  Jordan Shipley muffed a punt and Dallas recovered at the Bucs 39-yard line.  On that same play, Dekota Watson slammed into the Cowboys punter for a 15-yard penalty added on.  Cowboys took over at the Bucs 24-yard line.  Cowboys had to settle for a 32-yard FG by Dan Bailey for a 10-7 lead.  Late in the half, Romo led the Cowboys in the 2-minute drill and drove into Bucs’ territory but a sack by Michael Bennett and Gerald McCoy pushed Dallas back to the Tampa Bay 46-yard line.  Cowboys came up empty and it remained 10-7 Cowboys at the half.

Greg Schiano made two successful challenges in the second half, including on a sack and forced fumble by Bennett on Romo.  Bucs defense was able to hold the Cowboys to a couple of field goals to make it 13-7 Dallas going into the 4th quarter.  But the Bucs offense could not get anything going.  The Cowboys secondary did an exceptional job of pressing man coverage on the Bucs wideouts and Freeman had nowhere to go.  DeMarcus Ware also complicated matters with his knack of making big plays.  Ware’s sack of Freeman backed the Bucs to the 1-yard line with about 4-minutes left.  Dez Bryant followed with a terrific punt return inside the Bucs 10-yard line.  That set up a 22-yard Bailey FG to make it 16-7 Dallas with 2:43 remaining.

Bucs were able to get a field goal from Connor Barth to make it 16-10 late.  Tampa Bay attempted an onside kick but Dallas recovered.  Staying true to his word, Schiano had the Bucs fire off three straight times on the kneel down but to no avail.  Cowboys held onto the ball and the victory. 

 

News & Notes:

  • Rookie running back Doug Martin was bottled up against the Cowboys.  Martin had 19 carries for just 53 yards
  • Vincent Jackson was shut down by Brandon Carr for much of the day.  VJax had just one catch for 29 yards and was targeted 7 times.
  • Josh Freeman had a day to forget.  Freeman completed just 10 of 28 passes for 110 yards, one touchdown (Luke Stocker) and one interception.  Freeman’s accuracy was way off, and so was the conservative play-calling by offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan.
  • DeMarcus Ware was unstoppable at times during the game.  Ware recorded 2 sacks and 3 forced fumbles.
  • Defensively, Gerald McCoy and Michael Bennett were nothing short of spectacular.  McCoy and Bennett each had two sacks.  Mason Foster also played well with 7 tackles, including two for losses. 
  • The Bucs return home next Sunday to host the Washington Redskins at 4:25pm.  You can catch all the action on your home of the Bucs, 620 WDAE.