Tampa Bay squeezed out a win in a thriller against the Cowboys to open up the NFL Season.
Tampa Bay- The Bucs defeat the Cowboys 31-29.
For the first time since the Bucs won the Super Bowl, there were live fans in a packed house for their home opener against the Dallas Cowboys. Before the game started to officially open up the NFL season, there was a huge celebration to honor and recognize the Bucs' Super Bowl Championship.
On the Bucs' first possession, Brady marched his team down the field from the six-yard line and went 9 plays to score a touchdown, striking gold first, 7-0. Tampa had no answer with stopping Dak Prescott on the Cowboys' second possession. Prescott went 7 out of 7 and capped off the drive with a nice spiral to a wide-open CeeDeee Lamb for a 22-yard touchdown to tie the game up 7-7.
The Bucs extended their lead early in the second with a Brady to Rob Gronkowski connection for the five yard touchdown. On the ensuing possession, the Bucs' secondary continued to shoot themselves in their foot. They had three costly penalties that put the Cowboys in the redzone. Tampa forced Dallas to kick a field goal, which went wide right and was no good.
Two turnovers by the Bucs help the Cowboys get back in the game. A few scores later, the Bucs saw their lead disappear and for the first time in the game they were down 16-14 with under two minutes left in the half. Just as quick as they were down, Brady snapped his fingers and threw a touchdown bomb to Antonio Brown. With that touchdown, Brown had over 100- receiving yards in the first half. The Bucs went into the locker room with a total of 244 yards and a 21-16 lead.
At the start of the third, once again the Bucs' secondary gave up some big plays in the middle of the field and a huge PI called put Dallas in the redzone. Tampa stopped a potential touchdown and forced another Cowboys' field goal. The field goal was true and Dallas cut the Bucs' lead to two, 21-19.
After the Bucs picked off Prescott, they took the turnover and cashed it in with Brady throwing his second touchdown pass to Gronk mid way in the third, 28-19. Dallas answered the Bucs touchdown with a touchdown of their own, to make the game very interesting heading into the fourth quarter, 28-26.
Chris Goodwin made a crucial mistake in the redzone. Fighting for extra yards with a potential to end the game and score, Goodwin fumbled the ball at the five yard line. Dallas recovered the fumble and was in good position to drive down the field for a game winning score.
Dallas took the turnover and marched right down the field to put themselves in field goal position. After a night where Greg Zuerlein was struggling to hit field goals, he hit a 44-yard field goal to put the Cowboys in front with under two minutes left in the game, 29-28.
The Bucs had one gasp of life with under .50 seconds left in the game to get a go-ahead score. Brady magic happened one again, as he hit two of his wide receivers for big gains down the field to put his team in field goal position. The Bucs hit the field goal with .3 seconds left to escape with a victory. WHAT A GAME to open up the NFL season.
Brady finished with 379 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 2 picks.
