Head coach Mike McCarthy led the way in jubilant locker room celebrations after the Dallas Cowboys routed Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
The Cowboys booked their place in the divisional round of the NFL after a thumping 31-14 win at Raymond James Stadium to likely bring down the curtain on Brady's run in Tampa. Dak Prescott was in fine form, throwing for 305 yards and four touchdowns, as well as rushing another to set up a mouth-watering clash with the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara on Sunday.
A shocking performance from the Cowboys in their defeat to the Washington Commanders on the final day of the regular season seemed to throw their chances of a Super Bowl run into doubt, but spirits are high in the camp again as they set their sights on Sunday's clash at Levi's Stadium off the back of a dominant showing on both sides of the ball.
McCarthy has faced his fair share of criticism across his three-year tenure with "America's Team", but he enjoyed himself in the aftermath of his first playoff win since he was with the Green Bay Packers in 2016, despite a worrying night for kicker Brett Maher, who inexplicably missed four of his five extra-point attempts.
A video posted by the Cowboys' media team showed an ecstatic McCarthy dancing his way into the locker room while wearing a huge chain with the team's logo on it, delighting his players in the process.
McCarthy believes' Dallas' defence were the main factor behind their first road playoff win in three decades, forcing Brady into a rare redzone interception and limiting the Bucs offence to zero points in the first half.
"Defensively, I thought we were all over them as soon as we got off the bus," McCarthy said in his post-game press conference.
"I think our defence really set the tempo for the game. For there to be a couple of three-and-outs to start the game, we just did a great job.
"It starts up front, getting off blocks (and) rallying to the football. We really emphasised the finish and squeezing their perimeters. We looked at the passing game and we anticipated them to throw the ball a lot.
"We got our hands on a number of balls today. I know we didn't get the takeaways we normally get, but most importantly, we were in position for takeaways.
"We were all over the football, we had excellent pressure, particularly in key parts of the game on third and fourth downs. I thought the defence played extremely, extremely well on all three levels."
McCarthy and his team will be desperate to avenge last season's upset loss to the 49ers in the wildcard when they meet at the weekend with a place in the NFC championship game on the line.
