Buccaneers 31, Cowboys 29

September 9th, 2021


It is said that the great teams win when they don’t play their best.

That was our beloved Bucs tonight.

The Cowboys with their banged up offensive line and wounded quarterback embarrassed the Bucs defense. The young Tampa Bay secondary got exposed — over and over and over again — as the Bucs’ pass rush was inconsistent.

Dak Prescott, behind that depleted line, just went 42-for-58 for 403 yards and three touchdowns.

But in the end, the Bucs did what they do best: let Tom Brady take control, throw long passes and score touchdowns. That made up for the penalties, the Ronald Jones and Chris Godwin fumbles, and the porous defense.

Joe is all good with it.

No style points in the NFL. Certainly not on opening day.

The old-men Bucs got it done. Rob Gronkowski caught his first five targets and locked down two key touchdowns. And soon after the third quarter started, Antonio Brown already had four catches for 118 yards and a touchdown. In Brown’s honor, Joe hurled furniture and ran to the garage to toss a bicycle!

The “W” is a beautiful thing, even if Dallas isn’t very good. Joe gives the Cowboys a lot of credit for their gameplan and grit on the road. Thankfully, their kicker sucks. Bucs fans know how that goes.

The Bucs’ winning streak now sits at nine games. Destiny rolls on!

Atlanta is next!

76 Responses to “Buccaneers 31, Cowboys 29”

  1. King C Says:

    A win is a win. Job done. People need to stop talking 17-0 though

  2. Buc4evr Says:

    I’m totally drained of all emotion. My heart can’t take this type of game anymore. And Dallas looked good, they will win their division and I bet we see them again.

  3. Buc1987 Says:

    Phew!

  4. Aceofaerospace Says:

    OMG. What a great game. Yeah there was rust and a lot of mistakes but we won and we will build off this. Go Bucs!

  5. Bird Says:

    Oneil

    No run game
    No defense
    No worries.
    All turnovers
    All goat

    And you are still think he is ehh
    😂

    Maybe you should go bye bye

  6. Miller5252 Says:

    Going to have to buy a Succop jersey after that I think. Godwin made up for his mistake.

  7. mg Says:

    Thanks for the laugh in Browns honor, Joe.
    Beautiful.

  8. PassingThru Says:

    Thank God for the extra days off. Bucs got banged up

  9. Buc Neckid Says:

    So if your a fantasy football geek
    Never play your RB against the BUCS Defense
    and ALWAYS play your QB and WR’s against the BUCS Defense.

  10. dmatt Says:

    Jamel who. I still haven’t brought in to him. He’s outta his league.

  11. Surfslowson Says:

    Most of the yards came against Dean after SMB went out, he got cooked and was lost even 15 yards off his guy. Glad to have the win. Great game for fans of football. Go BUCS!

  12. Casual Observer Says:

    Dallas offense went like a knife through warm butter most of the time. Lucky to pull it out. Still think a SB return is in the books, but the pass D (DBs) need a lot of work.

  13. Jeagan1999 Says:

    Brand new season and one thing is damn sure, ain’t nothing going to be given just because we won the big one last year….we gotta take it EVERY SINGLE GAME!

    Brady is already in mid season form, but the D has some work to do!

  14. Ben green Says:

    It’ll be a long season if the secondary plays like that. They need to scheme that up, because the talent isn’t impressive. Find some disgruntled db somewhere before the trade deadline, and overpay.

  15. Bucsguy92 Says:

    I don’t think the pass rush was inconsistent Dak was releasing the ball quick . Kellen Moore called a hell of a game

  16. Natron Says:

    Nailbiter

  17. TheShaz Says:

    We showed more “rust” as a team than Dak did

    Dallas looks legit

    Too many penalties, the offense put points up but the penalties. Defense, the secondary got hurt and lit up. Pass rush was missing in action for much of the game.

  18. D-Rome Says:

    Chris Godwin almost blew this game for the Bucs. It was closer than it should have been. For a while it felt like I was watching the 2019 Buccaneers. Still, at the end of the day the scoreboard says we won so that’s all that matters.

    Great way to start the season with a W!

  19. BradyBucs Says:

    POST SOME MORE ABOUT *JAMEL DEAN’S STATS LAST YEAR*

    Sorry to say it… BUT…

    I told you so, I told you so, I told you so.

    Everyone criticized me for saying these “Gravediggers” were overhyped and more like the “Nosepickers.”

    All anyone had to do was truly watch and analyze play from last season on our secondary.

    Packers and Chiefs OL injuries allowed us to get to the QB more. What happened tonight all game when we couldn’t get to Dak? Our secondary gets ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED.

    SMB & Dean are both TERRIBLE cover guys. Their bad play was overlooked due to our pass rush.

    Bucs need to make a TRADE immediately for a solid Vet Corner. I was so surprised when we didn’t do that in the off-season or sign someone in FA.

  20. WalkdaPlank Says:

    Dixie Chicks are getting killed!

  21. JimmyJack Says:

    Brady just won us the game in the 2 minute drill!!! Didnt see this all of last year!! Any shortcomings shown tonight were Trumped by the fact that Brady just stole the Victory on last posession.

  22. Thisisouryear!! Says:

    The cowboys offense is really good. Dak played phenomenal. Their offensive game plan was great. That’s why our defense struggled. Dak got rid of the ball immediately.

    I think we would have won comfortably if not for the 2 fumbles and fournettes drop that turned into an int. But go Bucs and go Tom Brady!!!! Calm and Cool under pressure!!! It’s football season baby!!!

  23. JA Says:

    RGIII
    Lenny
    One mistake by the former and he’s gone.
    A worse mistake for the latter and his playing time increases.
    Same thing last year.
    Don’t understand it …

  24. GMC hater Says:

    Is whitehead playing next week?

  25. Suckin less Says:

    Said it earlier they needed to be ready for quick throws, defense looked awful

  26. Ben green Says:

    How about that gio Bernard. He looks as old as Bernards star. Gonna regret not getting James White

  27. Ben the GA Buc Says:

    1-0 baby. 17-0 still a possibility. We just need to tighten up on D and get sharper on O. Hang onto the ball. We are good. Go Bucs!

  28. JimmyJack Says:

    BradyBucs we just won on last posession. Theres sonething wrong with you.

  29. Doctor Stroud Says:

    The Bucs scored 31 points. For some reason, I like that number!

  30. Medicated Pete Says:

    Does Mike Evans get high before games? Trade his ass now

  31. Danr Says:

    Their holder sucks. They have an anger problem.

  32. chris l Says:

    lmao what furniture you getting to replace what you just tossed?! one of the best jokes you have had joe haha

  33. Marine Buc Says:

    U G L Y

    Godwin had a rough night. Dean had a rough night. All the running backs had a rough night.

    But we still won. Brady was typical Brady…

  34. 123urout Says:

    I’m going to lower my expectations a little bit. Every game will not be a blowout by the bucs.

  35. JimmyJack Says:

    Drome yes Chris totally screwed us. In his defense he made a nice comeback catch to set us up for victory but that fumble is a play losing team make. Inexcusable

  36. HC Grover Says:

    Brady, Gronk, amd Brown. Yhat was the game.

  37. Colonel Angus Says:

    Still scored 31 with all the turnovers and penalties.Defense made plays when they had to and our kicker came through after Brady did what he does. Good win, and the ugliness gives them something to focus on. Game 1 is like a preseason game that all the starters play together for 4 quarters. It just happens to count.

  38. gotbbucs Says:

    Dean is way too stiff to be an outside cover corner. His hips are tight as hell and he takes piss poor tackle angles.

  39. Swampbuc Says:

    To all the morons calling for a blowout — get a dose of reality from this.

    It’s the Bucs, no one knows how to beat Bucs better than Bucs.

    The Cowboys skill guys are better than ours.

    I said I’d be happy winning by a point. They doubled my spread.

    Tom was GOATISH. Gronk was huge. Godwin a head case. Need to quit playing so much off coverage. And the pass rush was largely contained.

    Prescott is a beast. The Cowboys should win their lousy division.

    Thank God Succup made that kick.

  40. Rico Says:

    Incredible how we’re able to win these ugly, close games. What a win! GO BUCS!!

  41. Tye Says:

    That was ugly but at least they didn’t let the turnovers beat them… 1-0

  42. AtlBuc Says:

    I have to say that the DBs are at their best when pressure is put on the QB. That wasn’t the case most of the night. Thankfully most teams don’t have the personnel to play the outside game plan. But I am going to take this win and enjoy it

  43. NashvilleBuc Says:

    Cowboys were blatantly holding all night long. That is what allowed Dak to make last second throws. When the refs finally starting calling it the game turned our way. I almost felt like the refs were trying to keep it close. The holding was blatant and constant.

  44. HC Grover Says:

    What a football game…..No complaints. It was FUN!

  45. Ben green Says:

    This is how they’ll be attacked all year. You can’t run on them, so what else is there to do? Spread them out and pick on the unimpressive secondary. It’s clearly the weakness of the team. I’ll tell y’all one thing, if you haven’t learned how to take care of the football by week four, the pats will force 10 turnovers. Get your act together!!! I wanna see a good game

  46. Buczilla Says:

    I was dead wrong on the score, but what a hell of a game. Vita is worth his weight in gold man. Next 🙂

  47. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    The mark of a good team is to win when you play poorly….and that’s exactly what happened tonight…….Evans didn’t look like he was in the game……Turnovers, penalties….but guess what…our Special Teams actually did well….Pinion on punts & kickoffs, Mickens on returns & Succup…100% & a game winner….

    Go Special Teams for a change.

  48. BucsFanSince1976 Says:

    If stale biscuit thinks he can win em all throwing it 50 times a game he is wrong. Dallas does not have a good run defense , so where is the commitment to the running game? Time of possession makes your D play a whole bunch better.
    Cam Brate and OJ Howard have to be more involved in the game plan. Why didn’t Winfield play tonight?????? Oh yeah , he did but you would never have known it.
    Four turnovers and still won the game-Houdini errrrrrrr Brady was money, Thanks TB12 you are the greatest of all time.

  49. Swampbuc Says:

    Stop Calling the Cowboys a lousy team. They were 1:28 and a few horrible kicks from beating us. That means the Bucs aren’t much better.

    A win is a win, but get real people. I’ll be happy with 11-6.

  50. FortMyersDave Says:

    31 points despite the turnovers. Yeah the pundits are gonna have a field day with the Bucs tomorrow but the Cowboys do not win anything for coming up short, better to be 1-0 than 0-1. RoJo and that secondary, WTF and so much for that stellar pass rush, Dak had a lot of time. Still lets take the win and hopefully the D can do better against Matty Ice.

  51. August 1976 Buc Says:

    The turnovers and drops made this a game. But in the end the Bucs still hit their 30+ points average.

    Offense was looking good and bad and without the drops and fumbles this team scores 40, and it would have hid the bad CB play.

    All the talk about the secondary before today by many was how they have improved. NOOOOOOO, they will be targeted all year long.

    We saw the script against the Bucs D and it is not pretty

    Dallas totally avoided the front 7, and just played outside, and the Bucs had no answer.

    Hopefully next week against Atlanta, they can play a much cleaner game. We will see.

    GO BUCS!!!!!

  52. IrishMist Says:

    Arians just said SMB dislocated his elbow, “But I think he’ll be alright. ?

  53. HC Grover Says:

    Godwin SUCKED!

  54. JimmyJack Says:

    Brady just led us to a last minute win. This is what great QBs do. We are never out of a game with this guy. Feels great!
    GO BUCS!!!!

  55. FortMyersDave Says:

    Nashville Buc: time for a Vegas inquiry? Yeah, the refs looked like they let the Boys hold a lot but still, that secondary can not be so dang porous! A win win is a win but yeah it might be interesting to see how Vegas faired on the Cowboy cover and the over……

  56. Leighroy Says:

    Very disappointed (love smith voice) in 45-54 tonight. They were C- at best

  57. NaplesBucsFan Says:

    I think this was one of the best things to happen (not what I wanted to watch)…BUT….f@cking yo that badly and being exposed on D while still being able to get the W is probably the perfect way to start the year! Now they know they gotta get their heads out of their own @sses and grind out the necessary work to be a winner, THIS YEAR…not ride last years success!!!!
    Great to finally see a last minute closing drive to win the game, since we had a couple opportunities not work out last year.
    9 game winning streak ya’ll…LFG!!!
    BUCS BABY!!!

  58. DoooshLaRue Says:

    SwampBuc,

    Agree with both your posts.
    Some people just don’t get it.

  59. Don Says:

    Offensive line and Brady won that game That was fun to see

  60. BradyBucs Says:

    JimmyJack,

    What does Brady winning the game in the last few seconds have to do with my criticism of the Secondary? You’re a HOMER of a fan if you only look at the outcome of one game and don’t realize the major problems we have.

    SMB & Dean are TERRIBLE. Even before SMB got hurt he was getting torched and missing tackles, just like Dean.

    I’ve been preaching this for months and other just said I was being “negative” for no reason.

    I wasn’t buying the HYPE. I WATCH the film and see how badly they play. I see how often they get bailed out by the pass rush.

  61. BradyBucs Says:

    Naples,

    Exactly. They can retire this “Gravediggers” nonsense FOREVER.

  62. PassingThru Says:

    The Dallas O Line played well, they allowed Dak to get into a nice passing rhythm. Dak had great touch but it looks like he doesn’t have his fastball yet.

  63. dmatt Says:

    I agree BradyBucs,
    I’ve said the same thing about Dean. I’m still not sold on this guy. He still looks confused n lost. I’ve said this since 2019. He’s very timid. Let’s put Dee Delaney in and see what he can do because after players watched Deans performance he’ll be like blood in the ocean during the entire season.

  64. MarkR Says:

    Amazed that we won. Two fumbles, one on the Dallas 3 yard line, numerous pass drops, two interceptions (although one was on a hail mary) and 11 PENALTIES, one of which robbed us of a time-out on the last 1:28 drive. Brady persevered like he always does but we have to play much better.

  65. Openureyes Says:

    Seriously is everyone watching the same game?…Im no fan of either team and hardly can make myself continue to be fan of NFL,cowboys got screwed,I mean seriously!…very first game of year showing you how fixed the NFL has become it’s just pathetic,the joy is gone!

  66. Jmarkbuc Says:

    This may turn out to be the best thing that could have happened.

    No more big head
    Starters played a whole game
    10 days to get it together
    Got the W.

  67. Soggy Says:

    That was a fun game to watch, nice to win at the last seconds, our guys will be fine going forward but we sure could use some major help at cb, I think the bucs know that so lets hope we can fix it.. 1-0

  68. BradyBucs Says:

    Openureyes,

    LOL.

    As if they make that close no call that the game is automatically over and the Cowboys win. We still had like 30-40 seconds and would only need 10-15 yards to get into FG range. The game wasn’t over even IF they made that call against Godwin.

  69. BradyBucs Says:

    And how is the NFL fixed… did they put a huge MAGNET in the football so when Succop attempted the game winning kick it automatically gets sucked down the field and through the uprights? ROFLMAO

  70. Raansu Says:

    That game was bad for my heart. The score shouldn’t have been even remotely as close as it was. Bucs secondary is still extremely bad and Byron still loves to run on 1st down way too much. I was losing my mind constantly watching blatantly obvious first down runs.

  71. unbelievable Says:

    I dunno why people keep saying Dallas isn’t good?

    Dak looked fine, and that offense was on fire before he got injured last year.

    And they have a pass rush. Clearly.

  72. firethecannons Says:

    We ate a W and almost choked on it

    It is good to win and have off the next 10 days to figure out wtf happened! Look forward to watching Sunday ball especially Saints–they are playing Greenbay. Hate both of those teams so somebody is going to lose and that works!

  73. firethecannons Says:

    Dallas was very good and they will likely make the playoffs. We squeaked by thanks to awesome play from TB12, Gronk and AB and Succop. What happened to our defense? 10 days to figure it out This is not a game I would want to rewatch!

  74. Bucschamp Says:

    Chill guys. This was a very good game for Dallas and a not so good one for us. Still we WON. We going to iron a few things and get better.

  75. atleastwewon Says:

    Completely agree with you @JA

    “RGIII
    Lenny
    One mistake by the former and he’s gone.
    A worse mistake for the latter and his playing time increases.
    Same thing last year.
    Don’t understand it …”

    I don’t know what goes on behind closed doors, but BA/BL seem to hate RoJo, and it makes no sense. He’s clearly a better runner than lenny, and their hands are about equal, yet one bad play ALWAYS lands RoJo in the doghouse. Lenny’s mistakes get brushed off like they’re no big deal. Man, that dropped pass was infinitely worse than RoJo’s fumble. The defender made a fantastic play, it happens sometimes. But tipping an easy screen pass into the air is unforgivable.

    Also, why the f*%k did fournette start the game??? Are we just going to forget the complete waste of a regular season from him last year (and his pouting)? We need players that always play hard, not players that ONLY show up in the playoffs.

    RoJo, at least you’ll still be young when you sign with your second team. Maybe they’ll appreciate your talent more than this coaching staff does.

  76. My Momma says Says:

    Joe: “as the Bucs’ pass rush was inconsistent.”

    Joe, our d line, especially our ends, were blatantly held most of the night. Barrett, when you look at the replays, were some of the most egregious; yet they weren’t calling them. The Wirfs hold was ticky tack in comparison to what Dallas was doing all night long. It wasn’t until the end of the game that they started calling some legitimate holds against Dallas. Look at the hold against Vita toward the end of the game where they almost took his head off. It was blatant. Yet they decide call it then? The outcome of this game should have been much different. This game was kept close in order to keep the viewers engaged. Don’t excuse the refs. This was manipulated.