Dallas Cowboys at Tampa Bay Bucs: National predictions
The Dallas Cowboys opened as 2.5-point favorites to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the last game of the NFL’s Wild Card weekend on Monday Night Football.
Both teams are coming off losses to end the season: the Cowboys suffered an embarrassing 26-6 loss to Washington Commanders. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell to the Atlanta Falcons 30-17.
The recent Dallas Cowboys loss has pundits questioning whether the 12-win team is ready to beat Tom Brady for the first time in franchise history. Experts are torn on whether the Cowboys can secure the victory.
Steve Serby, New York Post
Brady (with his seven rings) is 7-0 against the Cowboys. Dak Prescott has a seven-game interception streak. Ezekiel Elliott hasn’t been eating much lately. Micah Parsons and Demarcus Lawrence will be problems, but Brady will get the ball out quickly to Mike Evans and Chris Godwin against rookie corner DaRon Bland. Playoff Lenny Fournette can have success against 22nd-ranked rush defense, and if center Ryan Jensen (knee) can return, that would be a huge lift. Brady versus Dan Quinn … Falcons HC in Super Bowl 51 who blew that 28-3 lead to the GOAT, FWIW.
Prediction: Buccaneers 24-21 Cowboys
Jordan Dajani, CBS Sports
I predict the Buccaneers jump out to a 10-0 lead, before the Cowboys control the second half and pull out a win. I fully understand not having faith in the Cowboys, but you could say the same about the Buccaneers — even if they have the greatest of all time at quarterback.
Prediction: Cowboys 23-20 Buccaneers
Maurice Moton, Bleacher Report
Going into Week 18, Dallas fielded the No. 2 scoring offense. To limit Prescott’s mistakes, the Cowboys can run the ball with Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard against the Buccaneers’ middling run defense, which ranked 15th in yards and 17th in yards per carry allowed before Sunday’s games. The Cowboys will take the ball out of Prescott’s hands and trust their ground attack to lead them to victory.
Prediction: Cowboys 27-21Buccaneers
Jovan Alford, Sporting News
It’s hard to know what to expect in this game with Dak Prescott struggling and the Buccaneers seemingly underachieving all season. However, we like Tampa Bay to get the win in prime time. It will likely come down to the fourth quarter, which is Tom Brady time. Brady is battle-tested and knows what it takes to will his team to a win. Prescott hasn’t played great lately, and it is hard to see him flipping a switch on the road. Take Tampa Bay and the points.
Prediction: Buccaneers 24-20 Cowboys
Jerry Trotta, The Landry Hat
Yes, Tom Brady is capable of flipping a switch in the playoffs, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that this is a deeply flawed Buccaneers team. The Cowboys aren’t perfect, either, but they aren’t the team we saw in Week 18. As long as Dak Prescott and company bring their B-A game, they should send the GOAT packing.
Prediction: Cowboys 24-20 Buccaneers
Kyle Yates, Pro Football Network
This game may come down to the Brady and Mike Evans connection. If these two can link up multiple times as they did a couple of weeks ago, we could see Tampa Bay pull off the upset against this 12-win Cowboys team.
Prediction: Buccaneers 24-21 Cowboys
Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News
The Buccaneers will work to stay in it early with their run defense and some key third-down stops. They also had great success running on Dallas in the Week 1 meeting and Tom Brady has been sharper with the downfield passing game of late with more help with his receivers. Mike McCarthy’s team is headed for more early playoff disappoint against a sub-.500 team, albeit one with the GOAT at quarterback.
Prediction: Buccaneers 24-20 Cowboys
Devon Platana, FanDuel
The Buccaneers have also only beaten one team with a winning record (Seattle Seahawks) at home this season. Part of that has to do with their having the sixth-worst home scoring margin (minus-1.5). Needless to say, the Bucs could be in trouble with the Cowboys averaging 24.6 points (No. 7) with a plus-4.0 margin (No. 5) on the road.
Although Tom Brady has made a career of stepping up when it matters the most, the Cowboys are the overall better team and shouldn’t lose this favorable matchup.
Final Score Prediction: Cowboys: 24-20 Buccaneers
David Hill, New York Times
The market hasn’t been very impressed with the Cowboys: By midweek, 63 percent of the bets and 83 percent of the money had been bet on Tampa Bay.
Still, the Buccaneers have bedeviled this column, and we’ve been on the wrong side of nearly every one of their games this season. If they don’t cover this week, we can take some solace knowing this will be the last time.
Prediction: Buccaneers +2.5
Matt McCuen, OddsChecker
I can not pass up three points with Tom Brady at home. The Bucs were not all that impressive this season but let’s look at how Dallas has played as of late. The Cowboys have faced a lot of struggles in the last couple of weeks, and Dak Prescott is currently playing the worst football of his career. I see a low-scoring rock fight type of game, and in a game like this, I want the points, and I want the most clutch football player of all time in the form of Tom Brady. Brady has played well against this Dallas defense in the last couple of years, and I expect that once again on Monday night. Let’s keep crushing the NFL!
Prediction: Buccaneers +3
