There is not one rational reason to pick the Cowboys to beat the Bucs in tonight’s NFL opener.
Not one.
Tampa Bay returns every single starter from last year’s SB winner. The Bucs didn’t really even know what they were doing until the final third of last season. COVID chaos, new quarterback, new culture and some new roster moves slowed their progress. They appeared to be a flawed football team until the day they became unbeatable. And then that was that.
Ask the Chiefs.
Barring a rash of injuries, the Bucs will be better this year than they were last season. Much better. I didn’t say they “can” be better. I said they will be better.
There is reason to think the Cowboys will be better than they were a year ago. One would hope so. Certainly, the defense will be better. How could it not be? That was literally one of the worst defenses in NFL history. Le Pew.
At least in the preseason, it appeared that new DC Dan Quinn has removed some of the stink. All eleven defenders generally lined up in the right place. Yes, that represented progress.
But is it realistic to think that the Dallas D will go from historically awful to even pretty good immediately? And in a first game? Against the defending champs? That’s not rational.
I’m a Dak guy. I was honking Dak at Mississippi State before anyone else was. But he’s going to be rusty. Period. I don’t care how good you are, or how cool you are, or how hard you have prepared, you are not gonna be ready for NFL game speed when you haven’t seen it in almost a year. And that would be true if you were facing the Eagles. The Bucs are the top fuel dragsters of the NFL, especially on defense.
Ask the Chiefs. Mahomes had no chance in the SB. None. Yes, KC was playing with a decimated offensive line.
But this Cowboy offensive line is hurting as well, particularly with Zack Martin unavailable. The five guys who will start in the O-Line tonight spent virtually no time playing together in the preseason. Cohesion and coordination are everything up front.
So you can forget about a lot of deep-drop passes from Dak. He’s gonna have to grab it and chuck it. That to a large degree will negate what is admittedly a very good Dallas WR corps.
Running game? Zeke? That’s gonna be rough sledding, too, with the Bucs packing the box with as many as eight guys. Dallas has to gain positive yardage on first downs to have a ghost of a chance of getting this game into the fourth quarter. Good luck with that.
Ask yourself. Are the Cowboys better than their Buc counterparts in any position group on either side of the ball?
I think you know the answer to that question.
There is not one rational reason to pick the Cowboys.
But you’re thinking, now is when Coach is gonna say, “Despite that, I just have a gut feeling Dallas is gonna win,” right?
There is not one rational reason to pick the Cowboys. So I am not going to.
The name of this company is Radically Rational.
Oh, just hell no.
