Cowboys edge Buccaneers
By Elwyn Henderson
The Dallas Cowboys were officially eliminated for any chance of earning a playoff spot in 2024 after the Washington Commanders defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in a noon game on Sunday and came into AT&T Stadium Sunday night to entertain the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with nothing but pride to play for in the final 3 games of the season. Fans were hoping that the ‘Boys could win out and at least have a winning season, and that hope is still alive as the Cowboys won the game in front of 93,103 fans by the score of 26-24. The Bucs came in leading the NFC South with an 8-6 record while Dallas had a 6-8 mark.
Dallas won the toss to begin the game and chose to take the ball. Chase McLaughlin’s kickoff went out of the end zone and resulted in a touchback out to the Dallas 30 where Cooper Rush led the Dallas offense onto the field for the first time in the game.
Dallas drove down to the Tampa 41 where Brandon Aubrey came in and booted a 58-yard field goal with 9:06 left in the first quarter, giving the home team the early 3-0 lead. The drive was 10 plays, 30 yards and took 5:54 off the first quarter clock.
Aubrey’s ensuing kickoff resulted in a touchback and Baker Mayfield and company hit the field for their first possession.
Mayfield moved his charges down the field and on a 4th and 1 a wide open Sterling Shepard dropped pass that would have garnered a first down and the Cowboys took over on downs at their 48.
Rush led the offense into the end zone, hitting Jalen Tolbert on an 11–yard TD pass with 2:49 left in the opening frame. Aubrey nailed the extra point and Dallas was up 10-0. The drive was 5 plays, 52 yards and took 2:08.
Following a touchback of Aubrey’s kickoff Mayfield and his unit set up shop at their 30. The defense forced a three-and-out and following a punt that was fair caught by KaVonte Turpin at the Dallas 20 Rush brought the Cowboys offense back on the field, hoping to continue their previous success.
The Cowboys went three-and-out and following a Bryan Anger punt and return Mayfield and company set up at their 43 with 14:45 left in the first half.
Mayfield led the Bucs the 57 yards into the end zone in 3:15 over 6 plays. The score came on a 2-yard run by Bucky Irving with 11:30 left in the first half. McLaughlin added the extra point and the Buccaneers were back within 3, trailing 10-7.
Dallas got the ball on their next drive at their 30 after a touchback. Rush got a 34-yard completion to CeeDee Lamb on the drive that got the Cowboys inside Tampa territory. The drive stalled at the Bucs 31 and Aubrey entered the game and kicked a 49-yard field goal with 9:15 remaining in the half, putting Dallas up 13-7. The drive was 5 plays, 39 yards and took 2:15 off the second quarter clock.
Mayfield moved the Bucs down to the Dallas 45 on the possession but Dallas forced a punt that went into the end zone and Rush came out with the offense to begin their next drive at their 20 with 4:14 left in the half.
The offense moved quickly down the field and Rush hit Lamb on a 50-yard pass down to the Tampa 11 as the two minute warning rolled around. On the second play after play began again Rush hit Lamb on a 10-yard pass down to the 1 and Dallas had a 1st and goal at the 1. Zeke Elliott came in and ran into the end zone for a TD with 1:45 left in the half. Aubrey’s extra point try was good and the Cowboys extended the lead to 19-7. The drive was 9 plays, 80 yards and took 2:29.
The visitors began their final drive of the half at their 29 after a return of Aubrey’s kickoff following the score.
Mayfield led his troops down the field the 71 yards into the end zone with 48 seconds left in the half. The score came on an 11-yard pass from Mayfield to Jalen McMillan. McLaughlin hit the extra point and the visitors narrowed the deficit to 20-14. The drive was 7 plays, 71 yards and took 57 seconds.
Dallas began their final drive on their 30 following a touchback. On the first play Rush hit Jake Ferguson for a completion of 32 yards and followed that up with a 14-yard pass to Brandin Cooks. Rush was sacked on the next play at the Tampa 40 and the Cowboys used their final time out of the first half with 12 seconds left in the game. A near catch at the 1 for Tolbert fell incomplete and on the final play of the half Aubrey blasted another 58-yard field goal putting the home team up 23-14 at the intermission. The drive was 6 plays, 30 yards and took the final 48 seconds of the half.
Tampa returned the second half Aubrey kickoff to their 38 and Mayfield hit the field again, hoping to narrow the Dallas lead. Micah Parsons managed a strip-fumble and the ball went out of bounds at the Tampa 44 where the visitors faced a 34 and 40 from that point. Mayfield’s pass was incomplete and Jack Browning punted the ball away from that spot. Turpin fielded the ball at his 17 and returned it up to the 35 where Rush and company began their first possession of the second half.
On the first play of the possession Rush hit Ryan. Flournoy on a 26-yard pass down to the Tampa 3 moved to the 39. They moved to the 35 and Aubrey came in on 4th down and kicked a 53-yard field goal with 6:33 left in the third quarter, putting the Cowboys ahead 26-14. The drive was 5 plays, 30 yards and took 2:34.
The next Bucs drive began at their 30 after yet another touchback. They moved down to the Dallas 27 where the defense forced a 45-yard McLaughlin field goal with 31 seconds left in the third frame and bringing the score to 26-17 in favor of the Cowboys. The drive was 11 plays, 43 yards and took 6:02.
Dallas began their next possession at their 30 following a touchback of McLaughlin’s kickoff and the offense came out hoping to take time off the 4th quarter clock and add to the lead. It didn’t happen though and Anger punted the ball back to the Bucs. Great special teams play resulted in CJ Goodwin resulted in a stop back at the 6 and after a half the distance to the goal for an illegal blindside block on the return Mayfield hit the field at his 3, desperately needing a TD to set up a shot at his team to still pull out a victory.
The Cowboys defense was swarming and forced a punt. The kick was taken by Turpin and he went out of bounds at the 34. An illegal formation on the Bucs set Rush and company up at their 39 to begin their next drive with 9:10 left in the game.
The offense managed one first down and Anger had to punt the ball again. The kick was fair caught at the 9 with 7:42 left in the game with Mayfield KNOWING he had to find a way to get his team into the end zone or the game would almost certainly be over for all practical purposes.
After getting a long pass completion Jourdan Lewis intercepted Mayfield in the end zone and Dallas got the ball back at their 20 following the turnover with 6:22 left in the game and in great shape to move to 7-8 on the year.
Sadly, the offense went three-and-out and Tampa Bay still had a chance. Anger punted the ball down to the 15. After a return and a penalty on the Bucs Mayfield brought his guys out at their 16 with 4:43 left in the game and trailing by 9 points.
Mayfield wasted little time getting his team down the field and into the end zone. He hit Ryan Miller on a 13-yard TD pass with 2:36 left in the game. McLaughlin’s extra point was good and the visitors moved the score to 26-24. The drive was 9 plays, 87 yards and took 2:07 off the clock.
Tampa Bay had 2 timeouts left so McLaughlin kicked the ball into the end zone, resulting in a touchback and Rush and the Dallas offense just needed to pick up a couple of first downs to pick up the win.
They were unable to pick up a first down and Anger punted the ball away with 1:52 left in the game after the Bucs used their final time out before the kick. The ball traveled down to the Tampa 10 and was returned up to the 26 and Mayfield had
one last opportunity to find a way to get into field goal range for McLaughlin to pick up the win.
DuRon Bland forced a fumble on the second play of the possession and Dallas recovered inside the Tampa 40 and Rush took a knee twice out of victory formation and the Cowboys moved to 7-8 on the year while the Bucs dropped to 8-7.
The Cowboys travel to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles next Sunday and return to AT&T Stadium on January 5th to close out the 2024 season.
When Coach Mike McCarthy held his postgame presser the Mirror asked him his thoughts about the resiliency of the team to get the win and now having the possibility of winning the last two games and closing the season with a winning 9-8 record after all the devastating injuries and all the issues the team has had this year.
“I like the sound of it. I appreciate exactly how it ends up. I really do. I’m just really focused on beating Philadelphia right now. Tomorrow’s a Tuesday for us coaches, so we’ve got to get in there and get that plan together and bring the players in on Tuesday because it’s a Wednesday for them. These are division games too. That’s the beauty of playing Philadelphia and Washington at the end. I love that the schedule ends up like this. I think it was a great thing the league has done. They’re obviously playing for something else than what we’re playing for. At the end of the day, we have every intention of going to Philadelphia to win.”
When Cooper Rush came in for his visit with the media after the win the Mirror asked him his thoughts on the play of the defense in the game and how they helped the offense out.
“Those guys have been playing their butts off. Even the guys who stepped in today. (Eric) Kendricks has been out. Nick (Vigil) in there. You can look all the way up and down the team, guys stepping up, playing well and they’re creating turnovers. They’re going and attacking that ball and our job’s to capitalize on them. We got enough points there in the first half and early in the third, but they bailed us out there in the fourth. A team win.”
Hopefully, the team can go to Philly next Sunday and get a win and then get back to AT&T Stadium on January 5th and take care of the Washington Commanders to get to that 9-8 record and feel like they improved as the year went on.