Dallas Cowboys: Studs and duds vs. Buccaneers in Week 1 loss

The Dallas Cowboys gave the Tampa Bay Buccaneers all they had in Week 1 but came up short. Here we look back at the game and point out the studs and duds from the loss.

Thursday Night Football gave us a thrilling contest between the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Dallas wasn’t expected to have a shot in this one and they nearly pulled off an upset in the final minutes.

Dallas shook off some early kicking woes to take a 29-28 lead with less than a minute and a half remaining but the defense couldn’t hold off Tom Brady, Chris Godwin, and the refs who ignored a blatant offensive pass interference.

It was a frustrating no-call that brought back painful memories of Week 1 in 2020 when Michael Gallup was called for a bogus pass interference that cost them the game against the Rams. As per usual, the zebras refuse to give Dallas the call — even though that’s never the narrative.

In the end, Tampa scored a 31-29 win and that’s all that matters. Here we look back over the game with the studs and duds from their Week 1 loss.

Dallas Cowboys Week 1 Dud: Ezekiel Elliott

The Ezekiel Elliott hype train has got to be slowing down by now. Following the worst season of his pro career, Elliott got to work trying to bounce back this season and had a terrible start.

Far too often, he was tackled at the line of scrimmage — or behind it — and was taken down in the open field on a huge third-and-goal.

Elliott did play well in pass coverage, picking up several blitzes to buy time for Prescott but overall, it wasn’t his best night. They’re going to need better from him going forward because Batman (Dak) sure could have used the guy who is paid to be his Robin.

Dallas Cowboys Week 1 Stud: Amari Cooper

Before this game, Amari Cooper came out and said he believed he was one of the best wideouts in the game, but also admitted that he hasn’t done enough to prove that he deserves such praise. On Thursday, he was on a mission to prove he wasn’t just blowing smoke.

Cooper caught the first pass of the game from Dak Prescott, going 28 yards from the Dallas two-yard line. They didn’t score on that drive but he did give them plenty of breathing room and opened the door for them to at least have a solid opening drive.

He wasn’t done there either as Cooper just kept pulling in one catch after another.