Cowboys get gritty 26-24 win over Buccaneers after playoff elimination

The Cowboys showed a lot of heart with their domination of Tampa Bay

The Cowboys’ season ended before they had even had a chance to play this week. While nobody actually expected them to reach the postseason, Dallas was mathematically eliminated from playoff contention early on Sunday, when Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels threw a go-ahead touchdown with six seconds left to upset the Eagles.

A few hours later, the Cowboys kicked off a prime time showdown against a Buccaneers team with plenty left to play for, but it was the Cowboys who looked like a team trying to prove something. This game came right down to the wire, but when all was said and done the Cowboys emerged victorious with one of their toughest wins of the year.

Things couldn’t have started out better for Dallas, who began the game on offense. Cooper Rush came out with his hair on fire, completing all six of his passes on the opening drive for 21 yards, navigating the team down into field goal range. Brandon Aubrey nailed a 58-yarder with ease to put them up 3-0.

Then it was the defense’s turn. Baker Mayfield managed to pick up a first down early, but Mike Zimmer’s creative pressure schemes proved to be too much, forcing errant throws from the Texas native on third and fourth down. Just like that, the defense forced a turnover on downs.

Rush and the offense took over right at midfield and ripped off two big plays in short order. KaVontae Turpin took a handoff for 12 yards before Rush hit Brandin Cooks on the move for 29 yards. A few plays later, Jalen Tolbert made an impressive toe-tap touchdown and the Cowboys were up 10-0.

The two teams traded punts after that before Tampa Bay managed to get a touchdown finally. But Aubrey hit a 49-yarder to extend the lead to 13-7. Their defense forced another punt, and the offense started moving down the field with haste. Two ridiculous plays from CeeDee Lamb set up an easy one-yard touchdown scamper for Ezekiel Elliott.

The Buccaneers managed to match that with a touchdown of their own, but the Cowboys were left with 48 seconds and all three timeouts before halftime. A big catch-and-run from Jake Ferguson just about put them in field goal range right away, and Aubrey nailed a 58-yard field goal to give the Cowboys a two-score lead, up 23-14 at halftime.

The third quarter went by with both teams notching just a field goal, and an impressive endzone interception from Jourdan Lewis with six and a half minutes left in the game seemed to ice things. But Rush nearly threw a pick on the first play, and then Dallas had their next two run plays gain eight yards and fall short of the first down, bringing up a punt.

Tampa Bay got the ball back with four and a half minutes remaining, and Mayfield went supernova. He racked up 75 passing yards with a 100% completion rate and also scrambled for a first down, finding a wide open receiver in the endzone with two and a half minutes left.

With two timeouts and the two minute warning remaining, Tampa Bay opted for a regular kickoff instead of the onside kick. The Cowboys tried to catch the Buccaneers off guard with a jet sweep to Turpin, but he was stopped for a loss of one yard. Two quick passes helped burn the two timeouts, but Dallas was forced to punt with 1:52 remaining.

Suddenly, it looked as if the Buccaneers might pull this thing off. Then came one of the most chaotic plays that can only be seen:

The swarming of the Cowboys pass rush, the grit of Mayfield to keep his feet moving and flip it to Rachaad White, and then the heads-up play of DaRon Bland to rip the ball out and recover the fumble. None of it could possibly be scripted, and it perfectly encapsulated the scrappy nature with which Dallas has played the last month or so.

They escaped with a gritty win, marking their fourth in five tries. They now move to 7-8 ahead of a road trip to Philadelphia with a chance at a winning record on the line. Playoffs are officially out of the question for this team, but you wouldn’t know from how they played in this one. These Cowboys are officially playing for the love of the game, and if Sunday night was anything to go off of, they really love football.