TAMPA, Fla. – The losing streak is over.
If Tom Brady retires, he leaves the game having lost to the Dallas Cowboys in the final game of his expected Hall of Fame career.
Brady’s future will have to wait.
The present is all about the Cowboys who eliminated the Buccaneers, 31-14, on Monday night in an NFC wild-card game.
Brady was 7-0 against the Cowboys coming in and now he’s 7-1. Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles was 2-0 against the Cowboys. Now he’s 2-1.
The Cowboys also ended another streak. It was Dallas’ first road playoff win since Jan. 17, 1993 when they beat, yeah, the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.
Dallas had lost its last eight road playoff games. That streak is over as well. Now everybody gets to move on to The Bay. Here are five things of note:
What’s next?
Well the San Francisco 49ers will host the Cowboys next Sunday afternoon in the NFC Divisional Round of the postseason. This is a rematch of the NFC wild-card game from last season where the 49ers won, 23-17, at AT&T Stadium. The 49ers and Cowboys have a storied history with the Cowboys leading the postseason series, 5-3. Dallas’ eight-game road playoff losing streak started in the 1994 NFC Championship Game were San Francisco won, 38-28. And now with it ending, the Cowboys have a chance knock off a talented 49ers team playing behind a rookie quarterback.
Dak Prescott does this thing
After such a sloppy start to the game, a three-and-out on the first possession with two poor throws and a second possession with another three and out, things started looking up. When his night was over, Prescott completed 25 of 33 passes for 305 yards with four touchdowns and, yes, zero interceptions. At one point during the game, Prescott set a franchise record by completing 11 consecutive passes in the first half. Prescott kept the game simple by finding receiver T.Y. Hilton on some early crossing routes, using the running game to his advantage, and not forcing too many throws. Dalton Schultz caught two touchdown passes, becoming the first tight end in franchise history to do that in the postseason. Everything settled down for Prescott who entered the postseason game after an abysmal performance against Washington in the regular season finale. Prescott’s night was so good, he became the third quarterback in franchise history to throw four touchdown passes in a playoff game joining Hall of Famers Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach.
The defense does its thing
There were some significant changes to the Cowboys’ defense in this game, particularly the secondary. Dallas sat cornerback Nahshon Wright for veteran Xavier Rhodes. The Cowboys also went with five safeties, giving Israel Mukuamu some playing time in key situations and utilizing veteran safety Jayron Kearse in the slot before he left late in the third quarter with a left knee injury. The Cowboys kept their secondary tight with DaRon Bland and Trevon Diggs getting the start and using Kearse in the slot. Up front, the Cowboys stuck with the rising Chauncey Golston at defensive tackle, who forced a pressure on a fourth down in the middle of the fourth quarter on Brady. Overall, the Cowboys’ defense had one sacks and an interception by Kearse in the end zone.
Run game has returned
When the regular season ended there were numerous problems with the running game. Well Tony Pollard rushed 15 times for 77 yards. Ezekiel Elliott had 27 yards on 13 carries. But Pollard was the man of the moment. He broke four tackles for an 18-yard gain in the second half and the Cowboys, for a change, executed the run game in the second half to close it out. Even Prescott got into the act by scrambling in the pocket to throw a touchdown pass to Dalton Schultz. Prescott ran for 25 yards and a touchdown, himself.
