3 Central keys to Cowboys-Buccaneers opening week matchup
The Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had very different themes entering the season a year ago. The Buccaneers were coming off a Super Bowl championship, with basically everyone returning to defend their crown. Dallas was coming off a nightmare of a season that pretty much ended in Week 5 with an injury to quarterback Dak Prescott while sporting one of the worst defensive units in the league.
One year later, Prescott is fully healthy going into the Week 1 opener, but is now leading an unproven offensive unit that has much less talent at wide receiver and offensive line. On the other side of the ball, defensive coordinator Dan Quinn has assembled a myriad of excellent playmakers in a much different position than they were at this point last season.
So, what are the key matchups for the Sunday night contest?
Which team can exploit the other's OL
Limitations on the offensive line could be the key to the game. The Cowboys have a bunch of unknowns. Has center Tyler Biadasz improved? What’s the initial result of losing Connor Williams and La’el Collins? Can first-round pick Tyler Smith be an immediate quality starter at left tackle after playing guard all summer?
The Buccaneers are not the ideal matchup facing these open-ended questions. Tampa Bay can bring Shaquil Barrett, Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, and Carl Nassib off the edge and up the middle have two monsters in Akiem Hicks and Vita Vea who are hard to move. Then there are depth guys like William Gholston and rookie Logan Hall, and even a second-level blitzer like Devin White can be an excellent playmaker. They are a handful for great offensive lines, let alone a depleted one like Dallas has.
The Buccaneers aren’t without their issues up front, either. After losing Alex Cappa in free agency and Ali Marpet to retirement, the bad news continued with knee injuries to Pro Bowl center Ryan Jensen and offensive guard Aaron Stinnie. Their offensive tackles aren’t practicing currently, even though both are expected to play.
The Cowboys may not be equipped to attack the middle of the line where Tampa Bay is weak. Demarcus Lawrence is a great pressure player off the edge and Micah Parsons can attack from anywhere, but Neville Gallimore and Osa Odighizuwa are unproven. If that DT group can’t make a mark, then quarterback Tom Brady might be able to step up in the pocket and use his quick release to pick Dallas apart.
The Parsons impact
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Parsons is the one non-quarterback on either team who can completely change the outcome of the game with his impact. This isn’t a rookie in his first game, playing off-ball linebacker. Three solo tackles, a pass deflection, and a QB hit was all the rookie produced in last season’s tilt. Injuries allowed Quinn to start using Parsons more as a pass rusher and that changed everything for the Dallas defense.
Parsons ended up the first ever unanimous defensive rookie of the year, compiling an incredible 13 sacks, 47 pressures, 16 hurries, and 17 QB knockdowns. He did that all while being only a part-time pass rusher.
The coaches, the offensive line, and especially Brady will focus in on Parsons in this game and it might not matter. Quinn will have the ability to use him like a weapon at multiple positions because the Dallas front office did a great job of backing Parsons up at each spot he might play.
If the best match up is lining Parsons up over the left tackle as an edge rusher, then Anthony Barr, Leighton Vander Esch, Jabril Cox, and Jayron Kearse can play linebacker. This would allow Parsons to take advantage of a weak offensive tackle like Adrian Clayborn did to Chaz Green in 2017.
If attacking the middle of the offensive line as a blitzing linebacker is the better way to attack, then Demarcus Lawrence, Dante Fowler, Dorance Armstrong, Sam Williams, and Tarell Basham pick up the snaps on the edge and Parsons terrorizes the pocket right in the face of the quarterback.
Tampa Bay will need to know where Parsons is on every snap and try to keep him from ruining the play.
Who can efficiently run the ball
Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Last time these teams met, future Hall of Fame guard Zack Martin was unavailable, and the Cowboys decided not to even try and enforce their will in the run game. Ezekiel Elliott carried the ball 11 times for 33 yards. Over the next four games Elliott averaged over 100 yards and a TD before hurting his knee. He was primed, but unused
One of the top efficiency rushers in all of football, a game should never go by with Pollard only getting three rushes like he did in that contest, especially when he broke off an average of 4.7 per carry against the top run defense. If the Cowboys can figure out a way to impact the game with an efficient running attack, it could help the new offensive line not get wrecked by a top defensive line unit for the Buccaneers.
On the flip side Tampa Bay had no success running either, rushing 13 times and for only 46 yards. Dallas didn’t have a great run defense by efficiency standards in 2021, but the Buccaneers couldn’t exploit that, and although the defense might be improved against the run in 2022, Tampa Bay’s strategy might be to attack the Cowboys’ run defense.
You can find Mike Crum on Twitter @cdpiglet or at Youtube on the Across the Cowboys Podcast.
