A total of 367 days will have passed since the last time the Bucs and the Cowboys faced each other when the two teams open their seasons on September 11 in Dallas. In a unique scheduling quirk, Tampa Bay and Dallas will open their seasons as foes for the second consecutive time.

Now a year is a long time in the NFL universe. Things change as is inevitable in the football world. Tampa Bay has a new head coach, 60% turnover on the offensive line, have changed over from a troubled superstar wide receiver to a more stable one, and rotated four starters on defense in that time.

Dallas has had similar turnover on their roster. These aren’t the exact same teams that met on September 9, 2021 at Raymond James Stadium. But they aren’t entirely different either.

Both teams have continuity at quarterback as well as in offensive and defensive scheme. And with those similarities we can learn some things from the last matchup to inform how this one can or should go. It bears the question what can the Bucs learn from last year’s game that they can apply to this year’s? I re-watched Week 1 of the 2021 season and came away with a few key takeaways I think Tampa Bay can employ to make this year’s matchup a favorable one.

Defense

My fearless leader Scott Reynolds is a defense-first guy. Therefore, I thought I would humor him and start with that side of the ball. Tampa Bay’s defense allowed the Dallas offense to accumulate 451 yards and 30 first downs. It was not their finest showing. What was Dallas able to do that was so successful? Here are two things I would be trying to figure out if I am Todd Bowles.

Watch Out For Misdirection

The Cowboys offense lived off of misdirection for most of the game last year. By my count Dak Prescott was 14-of-18 for 119 yards on play-action. On screens he was an even more efficient 8-of-8 for 60 yards. These types of plays didn’t go for big yardage, but they did effectively augment a Dallas run game that was pedestrian at best. Here is a couple of examples of how these plays created high-percentage plays designed to pick up lots of first downs.

Prescott was able to carve up the Bucs defense throughout the entire game. Given the Cowboys are dealing with some turnover on their offensive line not dissimilar to the Bucs it stands to reason that offensive coordinator Kellen Moore will lean on play-action to help slow down Tampa Bay’s pass rush. This will also serve to hold linebackers from getting quick clean drops and potentially give Prescott better reads.

The Bucs are going to have to defend this better in meeting 2.0. I would love to see the team run more man coverage, especially against a receiving core that beyond CeeDee Lamb is unproven at best and subpar at worst. This would force Prescott to make tougher throws coming off of play-action and free up Bowles’ linebackers to move to their personnel assignments faster. I think Tampa Bay should dare Dallas to beat the Bucs defensive line running the ball.

Improve The Corner Play Beyond Carlton Davis

Take a look at these grades – 26.1, 49.9, and 47.0. These were the coverage grades from Pro Football Focus for Sean Murphy-Bunting, Jamel Dean, and Ross Cockrell in the last matchup between these two teams. Some people don’t put much stock in these grades, but brother/sister I am telling you, they didn’t get these wrong.

SMB got torched through most of the first quarter before getting hurt on a touchdown pass to CeeDee Lamb that put him on injured reserve for half of the season. Dean did not fare much better, getting beat on double-moves and getting called for penalties for much of the rest of the game. And Cockrell was just out-athleted by Dallas’ superior receiving core. Don’t believe me? Watch.

This year Dean will be starting over Murphy-Bunting after putting together a very good season in 2021. Antoine Winfield Jr. will be manning the slot instead of Cockrell for much of the game. If these two can provide an improved level of play against a group of receivers that won’t have Amari Cooper and most likely not Michael Gallup, Tampa Bay’s defense should allow far less than 390 yards of passing.

The Bucs need to have answers for these two areas of Dallas’ offense. If they can, they should fare much better in the sequel.

Offense

Now turning to the offense, Tampa Bay had a very successful game from a process standpoint. However, they were plagued by turnovers. Tom Brady threw two interceptions. One was a screen pass to Leonard Fournette that bounced off his hands and into the waiting hands of cornerback Treyvon Diggs. The second was a last-second Hail Mary heave into the endzone at the end of the first half that was nearly returned for a touchdown.

In addition to those picks, running back Ronald Jones II and receiver Chris Godwin each lost fumbles. When you consider all of these turnovers in context (Dallas scored a touchdown off the RoJo fumble, a field goal off of the Diggs interception, and a field goal off of the Godwin fumble), you can see the game should not have been nearly as close as it was. Now here were some trends that led to the process of success I would like the Bucs to repeat this time around.

Attack The Cowboys Secondary

I know a lot of people who want to see the Bucs get more balanced this year and especially Week 1 against Dallas. There are question marks along the interior of the offensive line, but I can’t believe I have to ask this question: “How have the Bucs won so much over the past two seasons?”

To answer my own question, Tampa Bay has posted one of the top offenses in the league over the past several season by throwing the ball. And while the Cowboys defense sports some legit superstars in the front seven, they also have a secondary that can give up big chunk plays in the air. And that’s what offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich’s offense thrives on: big chunk plays.

This leaves me perplexed. Why would you play away from your strength if it is also your opponent’s weakness? This just does not make sense to me. Take a look.

If you want to hide the O-line a little then go more play action and slow the Dallas pass rush. But I beg of you, Byron, please keep the deep shots coming. The Dallas secondary cannot matchup with Tampa Bay’s passing offense. Use Mike Evans, Julio Jones, Russell Gage, and the rest of your receiving core to get into advantageous positions. Your quarterback and weapons are too good not to. If not for turnovers this Bucs offense would have hung 40+ points on the Cowboys.

If the Bucs can do these things, I predict a pretty one-sided affair.