The Cowboys Buccaneers season opener had the highest television ratings of any NFL regular season game in years; And, while most NFL fans were not disappointed in what ended up being a thrilling back and forth game that ended with a last second game winning field goal, Cowboys fans were the exception. That was because the Cowboys were huge underdogs coming into this game, had a lead with under 2 minutes to play, and lost the game in heart breaking fashion amid a cloud of controversy.
These type of losses have become a common occurrence for Cowboys fans over the years, especially against world class quarterbacks. Just last year the Cowboys had a 2 point lead late in the game against the Seahawks only to allow Russell Wilson to convert on a fourth down conversion before marching down the field to score. Aaron Rodgers has done it to us a couple of times now. First in the 2017 regular season, and of course painfully in the 2016 divisional round playoff when he was allowed to convert on a 4th and 19 on route to a game winning drive. Even going back as far as the Tony Romo era, the Cowboys fell short in a shutout loss to Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos in 2013.
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What makes this loss to Tampa Bay all the more painful were two highly controversial non-calls in the Buc’s favour. The most talked about was the offensive pass interference committed by Chris Godwin on his catch that set up the game winning field goal. The foul wasn’t as egregious as say, what occurred to the Saints in the 2018 NFC Championship game, but because it decided the game and the same call went against the Cowboys in their season opener against the Rams last year, it really hit home with Cowboys fans. It is all the more bitter of a pill to swallow when Tom Brady is the opposing quarterback. As if Tom Brady needs any more help. The other non-call flew under the radar to some degree. It occurred when Lavonte David removed his helmet on the field out of frustration after just missing out on an interception. Had that obvious foul been called as it should have been, the Cowboys would have had a fresh set of downs in the red zone and an opportunity to score a touchdown. Instead, they had to settle for 3 pts and ended up losing by 2 in the end. While mistakes by referees should never be used as an excuse in sports, it is understandable that those missed calls have left Cowboys fans with a bitter taste in their mouths.
No doubt the Cowboys Buccaneers game was disappointing in the end for Cowboys fans; yet, for many of them, had they known before the game started that the final score would be what it was, they would have been more than happy with that result against the defending champions. Most honest Cowboys fans hoped for victory on Thursday but did not expect it. The Cowboys were 9 point underdogs going into the game, and as the saying goes “Vegas knows what they are talking about”. Additionally, Tom Brady as a starting quarterback has a phenomenal record against the spread throughout his career, winning far more money for bettors than any other active quarterback in the NFL according to rankings provided by Bookies.com. Dak Prescott meanwhile, sits middle of the pack in that regard. The chances for the Cowboys to win that game on the road were very slim. The Cowboys are a team with a lot to prove to both their fans and to the rest of the league after their performance last season. So, the fact that the Cowboys went toe to toe with champs, beat the spread, and nearly pulled off the victory should be seen as encouraging. Especially given that the Bucs completely negated Ezekiel Elliott, daring the Cowboys to throw with Dak Prescott, who was coming back from a season ending injury last year and a shoulder injury that limited him in training camp. Dak responded beautifully with a fantastic showing against arguably the most dominant defense in the league.
In spite of the loss, things were starting to look up for the Cowboys as their schedule on paper appears to be pretty soft leading up to their bye week. That was until news broke that the Cowboys will be without Michael Gallup and La’el Collins for several weeks. Michael Gallup was injured early in the game against Tampa Bay but the severity of the injury was unknown. Now we know that Gallup will be out for 3-5 weeks. Cedrick Wilson is going to be the man expected to fill in for Gallup while he is out. Wilson is a solid fourth wide receiver and effective in the slot but the Cowboys will miss Gallup’s ability to make contested catches and provide a legitimate deep threat for Dak. The announcement regarding Gallup was one that Cowboys fans were anticipating after Thursday’s game. The same cannot be said about the news released concerning La’el Collins. That news came completely out of left field and was a total shock for Cowboys fans. It turns out, Collins will be suspended for 5 games for missing a drug test. Collins being out for that amount of games is a loss the Cowboys can ill afford. Despite the pleas of Cowboys fans to move Zack Martin (who missed Thursday’s game due to COVID-19) over to right tackle and let his backup Connor McGovern continue start at guard, it appears the Cowboys will roll with Ty Nsekhe or Terence Steele instead. Shades of 2020, where the Cowboys were without both starting tackles for most of the season and the offensive line was in shambles as a result, come to mind for Cowboys fans.
The devastating losses of both Michael Gallup and La’el Collins have Cowboys fans reeling. Any sense of a moral victory they may have had after a respectable loss to the Buccaneers may have been wiped away completely. That is especially true when considering the La’el Collins suspension, which appears to have been completely avoidable. It is often said that adversity will either make you or break you. We all witnessed what happened in 2020. Hopefully the 2021 Dallas Cowboys are better prepared to weather the storm and we will look back at these setbacks as obstacles the team overcame on route to a successful season.
*Photo by Joe Glorioso; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode