Desperation might be the prevailing vibe when the Buccaneers and Cowboys meet on Thursday night.
After an up-and-down first month of the season, Dallas is looking to gain some steam in what looks to be the softer part of its schedule. Tampa Bay’s season is already on life support after an 0-4 start. The Bucs have lost eight of their last nine games dating back to the 2025 season, and they have gone nearly a full year without winning on the road. The nightmarish stretch coincides with the second career start for QB Jalon Daniels, who is filling in for the injured Baker Mayfield.
Can the undrafted rookie pull off a stunning upset to give the Bucs a glimmer of hope or will the Cowboys establish their first winning streak in almost a year?
Three must-know storylines
1) Would anyone care to stop the Cowboys’ offense? Bucs head coach Todd Bowles is going to need a doozy of a defensive game plan for his team to win on Thursday.
Over the last three weeks, the Cowboys lead the league with 34 points per game, while Bowles’ Bucs rank 29th with 16.3 points per game in that same span. Dallas dropped 28 in the second half alone last week in a comeback win against the Texans -- who were supposed to field one of the league’s best defenses -- with CeeDee Lamb going off to the tune of 17 catches for 189 yards. For context, Tampa Bay doesn’t have a player with more than 16 catches or 160 receiving yards through four weeks. The Bucs do not have the firepower to match Dallas blow for blow in a shootout, as Bowles undoubtedly knows. It’s up to a Tampa defense that ranks among the five stingiest in yards allowed, third down conversion rate and red zone touchdown percentage to keep Dak Prescott from exploiting a secondary that is expected to be without two-time Pro Bowl safety Antoine Winfield Jr. (rib fracture).
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2) Is there any hope for Dallas’ defense? If ever there was a time for first-year coordinator Christian Parker’s defense to get right, it would be against an undrafted rookie quarterback making his second career start on the road after a condensed week of practice. So far, though, there’s not a lot of evidence that the Cowboys are nearing a breakthrough on that side of the ball. Consider, via Next Gen Stats:
Dallas has allowed a 60.6% success rate on dropbacks this season, the highest rate in the NFL and the second-highest rate allowed through Week 4 in the NGS era (since 2016), trailing only the 2019 Dolphins (61.8%), who went 5-11. Opponents have completed passes at a rate of +8% over expected against the Cowboys, the highest mark in the league. Dallas is the only defense that has yet to record an interception this season.
Parker might be inclined to send blitzes at Jalon Daniels, in an effort to provide cover for his beleaguered secondary and rattle the rookie. On pressured dropbacks ending inside the pocket last week, Daniels completed just 4-of-8 passes for 34 yards and an interception. When he exited the pocket under pressure, Daniels completed 3-of-4 passes for 15 yards and a touchdown, though he also took two sacks. The Cowboys are tied for the second-fewest sacks in the league (4), and they pressured Texans QB C.J. Stroud on just 10 of 35 dropbacks last week. The acquisition of Joey Porter Jr. alone isn’t going to cure what ails the Dallas defense.
3) Can the Bucs kick their running game into high gear? Tampa Bay rushed for a season-high 141 yards last week in a loss to the Packers, but overall, the team’s ground attack has been a middling unit in 2026. More of the same probably isn’t going to cut it against Dallas. The clearest path to victory for the Bucs would be to consistently pick up first downs with a steady diet of carries for the RB trio of Bucky Irving, Kenny Gainwell and Sean Tucker from the jump. The more time Dak Prescott and Co. are on the sideline, the better, as far as Tampa is concerned. Lanes could be open for the Bucs’ ball-carriers. The Cowboys have allowed the second-most rushing yards, the sixth-most yards per carry and the ninth-most rushing yards over expectation this season. Taking pressure off Daniels -- who ran for 55 yards himself last week -- by pounding the rock has to be a priority for offensive coordinator Zac Robinson.