NFL Tickets
TV Schedule: Sunday Nov. 15 1:00 p.m. EST, FOX
Location: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Fla.
Line: Buccaneers (-1)
The Dallas Cowboys enter their Week 10 matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers having dropped six straight games after losing their leader in Tony Romo with a broken clavicle in Week 2 of the season. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers are coming off of a tough loss to the NFC East division leading New York Giants after a comeback attempt on their part fell short late in the fourth quarter of that game. So both teams are in desperate need of a win to hold on to any hopes of saving their seasons.
Even after suffering through such a long losing streak, the Cowboys are still alive in their struggling division as no one team has shown the ability to run away from the pack at this point. So they enter this game believing that if they can just pull out a win before Romo returns next week, they can turn things around and still possibly accomplish everything they set out to do at the beginning of the year.
They appear to have finally figured things out in their running game as Darren McFadden has taken the reins as the workhorse back and has been productive in that role. He has rushed for over 100 yards in two of the past three games, and he gives their offense the ability to be once again have an effective play action pass. But more importantly, when this team does go to the play action, they once again have a threat at the receiver position in Dez Bryant.
Bryant finally appears to be rounding into shape, and he is now warranting the attention of safety help on his side of the field. This now opens things up for perennial Pro Bowler Jason Witten and the shifty slot receiver Cole Beasley. If replacement quarterback Matt Cassel, who is getting more and more comfortable in the offense, can avoid the big turnover, the Cowboys believe they have a chance this Sunday.
However, things won’t be easy for them as the surprising Buccaneers come into this game with their rookies playing at a high level and with Doug Martin finding the fountain of youth. Now I realize that Martin is only 26 years old, but he was all but forgotten in this league after a few injury-plagued seasons. But after the past two games, it looks as though teams are focused on stopping him and forcing their young quarterback Jameis Winston to beat them.
This is where the development of Winston comes into play. Early on in the season he was making the typical rookie mistakes, but he has now gone four straight games without throwing an interception and has put his team in a position to win each of those games. He has always been a smart quarterback on the field and is a gamer who loves the big moments, so don’t look for him to be nervous with America’s Team coming into town.
While the Buccaneers are a much improved team from last year, they still don’t have quite enough weapons at this point to slow down the desperate and talented Cowboys. The Cowboys will leave Raymond James Stadium with a much-needed win this Sunday.
Prediction: Cowboys 24, Buccaneers 16
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