For one final time in the 2024 regular season, the 8-6 Bucs will hit the road this weekend for a Sunday Night Football matchup against the 6-8 Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Tampa Bay will be looking for its fifth straight win out of the bye, a win that would get the team one step closer to its fourth straight NFC South title and fifth straight playoff appearance.

The Bucs are coming off a statement 40-17 road win over the Chargers last week and will be looking to finish the regular season with a 6-2 record away from home. Meanwhile, the Cowboys have won three of their last four and despite losing quarterback Dak Prescott for the season in November, they have a glimmer of hope to make the playoffs themselves. They’ll likely need to win out and get some help, though.

Dallas is 1-6 at home this season, and Tampa Bay will be looking to make that 1-7. Doing so would keep the pressure on Atlanta and set up a clinching scenario in Week 17.

Here is a preview of Sunday’s matchup between the Bucs and Cowboys:

The Last Time…

Bucs QB Tom Brady – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The most recent matchup between the Bucs and Cowboys came in January of 2023, when Dallas came to Raymond James Stadium and beat Tampa Bay in the NFC Wild Card Round. That 31-14 Cowboys victory was the final game of Tom Brady’s storied NFL career. Dallas scored the first 24 points and eventually went up 31-6 early in the fourth quarter before closing the game out. Dak Prescott was 25-of-33 for 305 yards and four touchdowns in the game, while Brady threw for 351 yards, two touchdowns and an interception on 35-of-66 passing.

The last regular season meeting between the two teams – and their last meeting at Jerry World – came just four months earlier, as they met on Sunday Night Football to open the 2022 season. The Bucs won that game 19-3, with Leonard Fournette running for 127 yards on 21 carries and Mike Evans hauling in five passes for 71 yards and a memorable one-handed touchdown grab. Ryan Succop kicked four field goals to lead the way before Evans’ touchdown essentially put the game out of reach.

Overall, the Cowboys lead the all-time regular season series over the Bucs 13-6, though Tampa Bay has won the last two (the 2021 and 2022 season openers).

How The Bucs And Cowboys Are Trending Heading Into Week 16

Bucs OC Liam Coen, QB Baker Mayfield and HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Bucs have managed to do it again, turning their season around late for the second year in a row. In 2023, they went from 4-7 to 9-8, which was enough to help them three-peat as division champions. They fell into a similar hole this year at 4-6, but they’ve won four straight games out of the bye week to put themselves in position to better their 2023 win total and stay on top of the NFC South for another year.

The lighter schedule has played a role in Tampa Bay’s turnaround, as the team went from games against the likes of the Ravens and Chiefs to matchups with the Giants and Raiders. But that’s not to downplay what Todd Bowles and Co. have managed to do in recent weeks, as both the offense and defense have played their parts in this winning streak. Bowles’ Bucs are now 8-1 over the last two Decembers and 10-3 in the month of December over the last three years.

Over the course of this four-game winning streak, Liam Coen‘s offense has put up an average of 31 points per game. Baker Mayfield has overcome some turnover problems that seem to arise for stretches of games, and he’s up to a career-high 32 passing touchdowns this season. Mike Evans is catching fire, too, as he is coming off a 159-yard, two-touchdown performance that was his second 100-yard game in the last three weeks. But as good as the pass game has been, Bucky Irving and Rachaad White – as well as the Buccaneer offensive line – have the run game as the strength of the team right now.

The caliber of offenses they’ve met in recent weeks has helped, but an undermanned Bucs defense has also been playing better football. During the winning streak, the unit has allowed just 15 points per game. Bowles’ defense shut out the Chargers in the second half of last week’s win and took the ball away twice, with Jamel Dean picking off Justin Herbert and Vi Jones forcing a late fumble that was recovered by Kaevon Merriweather.

As for the Cowboys, they’ve won three of their last four and have saved themselves from what looked like it was going to be an embarrassingly bad record. It has at least gotten them to the brink of being “in the hunt,” but NFL.com gives them a less than 1% chance of making the postseason even with a win over the Bucs on Sunday night. Still, having started the season 3-7 while losing Dak Prescott for the year, they’re back to 6-8 heading into this matchup.

Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Backup quarterback Cooper Rush has done an admirable job for Dallas, especially over this four-game stretch. He threw for 247 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Washington to start it, and he’s coming off a 214-yard, three-touchdown performance in last week’s win over the Panthers. On the season, he’s thrown for 1,405 yards and 10 touchdowns to three interceptions, and he’s kept Mike McCarthy’s team afloat as of late.

It helps that Rush has CeeDee Lamb to throw to. Despite Prescott’s injury and the fact that he’s catching passes from a backup in Rush, Lamb has 94 catches on 144 targets this year for 1,089 yards and six touchdowns. The offense runs through him, as the next-closest receiver to him in terms of catches and yardage is Jalen Tolbert at 40 catches for 462 yards. Tolbert does have five touchdowns, though. And it also helps that Rico Dowdle has been a revelation at running back for the Cowboys, as he’s up to 880 yards on 177 carries (5.0 avg.) this year and just ran for 149 yards against the Panthers last week.

The Dallas defense is playing better football as of late, but it still ranks as one of the league’s worst across the board. This is a unit that has a hard time against the run, and it’s allowing 27.1 points per game this year, which ties for fourth-worst in the league. Seven Cowboys have at least three sacks this season, with Micah Parsons predictably leading the way with 8.5. But this is a defense that has lost playmaking linebacker DeMarvion Overshown and top cornerback Trevon Diggs for the season. Those are tough blows for a defense that has already been struggling.

Here’s how the Bucs and Cowboys stack up heading into Week 16:

Bucs Offense: 4th in scoring offense (28.8 PPG), 3rd in total offense (388.3 yards per game), 4th in passing offense (244.0 yards per game), T-4th in rushing offense (144.4 yards per game)

Cowboys Offense: 19th in scoring offense (21.3 PPG), 17th in total offense (328.9 yards per game), 12th in passing offense (229.1 yards per game), 27th in rushing offense (99.8 yards per game)

Bucs Defense: 19th in scoring defense (23.3 points allowed per game), 27th in total defense (356.9 yards allowed per game), 30th in passing defense (247.7 yards allowed per game), 11th in rushing defense (109.2 yards allowed per game)

Cowboys Defense: T-29th in scoring defense (27.1 points allowed per game), 26th in total defense (356.0 yards allowed per game), 21st in passing defense (219.9 yards allowed per game), 29th in rushing defense (136.1 yards allowed per game)

As of Thursday morning, the Bucs were 3.5-point favorites with the Over/Under set at 48.5 (per Hard Rock Bet).

Bucs at Cowboys Game Information

When: Sunday, December 22
Where: AT&T Stadium (Arlington, TX)
Kickoff: 8:20 p.m. ET
TV: NBC – Mike Tirico (Play by Play), Cris Collinsworth (Analyst), Melissa Stark (Reporter)
Bucs Radio: 98Rock – Gene Deckerhoff (Play by Play), Dave Moore (Color), T.J. Rives (Reporter)
Spanish Radio: 96.1 Caliente – Carlos Bohorquez (Play by Play), Martín Gramática (Analyst), Santiago Gramática (Reporter)