NFL season is back with the Dallas Cowboys at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Dak Prescott is back in action as the Dallas Cowboys take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to open the 2021/22 NFL season. Prescott played in just five games last season before suffering a season-ending ankle injury. As a result, Dallas struggled a lot offensively and ended up going 6-10, giving them their first losing record since 2015. Without Prescott plus a slew of other injuries across the Dallas offense, the star running back Ezekiel Elliott did not put up near his potential in numbers with a career low of 979 rushing yards and four yards per carry.

Dallas offense healthy to start the season

Starting out this season, Dallas has an explosive offensive attack with Dak and Zeke, and Amari Cooper and Ceedee Lamb forming one of the top tandems in the NFL. However, it was discovered on Sunday that starting guard Zach Martin will not play after testing positive for Covid 19. This is a huge loss for the ‘boys as Martin is an extremely important part of their offense.

Tampa Bay's dangerous threat on offense

On the Tampa Bay side, we have a healthy Tom Brady starting his second season with the Buccaneers after helping them to win the Super Bowl last season in their home stadium - that very same stadium where they will play the Cowboys tonight to start the NFL season. Brady will also see a healthy offensive line returning to help him out with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Antonio Brown making up one of the best receiving trios in the league. In the final six games of the season last year, Brown scored six touchdowns and is ready to perform at an even higher level again this year after coming off of an offseason knee surgery. The Bucs used three-receiver sets on about 50% of their plays last year and it’s possible they’ll increase that this year.

Cowboys threatening trio of their own

Speaking of dangerous receiver trios, Dallas can’t be ignored in that conversation. With Amari Cooper, Ceedee Lamb, and Michael Gallup, Dallas has just as good as, if not arguably better than, a receiving trio as Tampa. Though the Bucs’ trio has better career statistics, we’ve seen Amari Cooper produce for the Cowboys since 2018, and with the addition of Lamb last season, the Dallas receiving trio should only continue to improve. The Cowboys used three-receiver sets on an even larger 71% of their plays last year, which is among the highest percentages in the league.

Odds in Bucs' favor

Not only is Dallas missing a key offensive player, but they will be up against Tampa Bay’s defense, which includes the deadly duo of Shaquil Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul, who combined for six sacks and ten quarterback hits in the final two games for the Buccaneers last season. The odds are not in the Cowboys’ favor, but hopefully we will at least see an improvement from last season’s 6-10 record as Dak makes his post-2020-injury debut alongside a mostly healthy offense as well as the addition of Micah Parsons on defense.