Buccaneers at Cowboys Week 1 Preview and Prediction

Tom Brady begins his quest for an eighth championship, while Dallas is in decline

By Matthew Horner – Sep 4, 2022, 12:00am

To kick things off on Sunday Night Football in 2022, the NFL has given us the ageless Tom Brady and his Tampa Bay Buccaneers against the Dallas Cowboys. Many may remember that this was last season's opening Thursday game, so the feel will be the same. However, I don't anticipate this one to be quite as good of a matchup as you mig ht think.

The Buccaneers are having some problems with injuries already, with center Ryan Jensen facing a season ending injury that will severely hurt the Tampa offensive line. Not only was Jensen Brady's only center while he has been in. Tampa, but he was the captain of that group, and was able to recognize and pick up blitzes. Now they will have two guys come in as possible replacements in Robert Hainsey and Nick Leverett, neither one of them has any experience playing the position, and neither has over 100 snaps in the NFL. That could certainly spell trouble.

As for the Cowboys, they are a team in decline. The offensive line is not as good as it once was, with Tyron Smith getting injured once again to just make the situation worse. The defense will not be as good as it was last year, very rarely does a defense stay dominant over two consecutive seasons. Not only that, but they hav e a very tough schedule this season, starting with this game. Don't even get me started on Mike McCarthy, who I truly believe is one of the worst head coaches in the league. There is just far more downside here than upside, and the rest of the division is starting to get better.
  
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