Week 16: Tampa Bay Bucs vs. Dallas Cowboys ~ MAVS ~ Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Texas!

#hugsomeone

#MerryChristmas

GO Cowboys!!! 8-6 (wins ~ losses)

1st in the NFC East
4th in the NFC (National Football Conference)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Dallas Cowboys (away team ~ home team)

Sunday, December 23rd at 12:00 (Noon) CST on FOX

"U.G.L.Y., you ain't got no alibi, you're ugly." ~ Does anyone remember this song? It's a terrible song, but so accurately describes the Cowboys game vs. the Colts. 

Everyone keeps saying, "we won five games in a row, we were due for a bad game." Um, no. That's called inconsistent. We BARELY beat the Falcons, the Saints and the Eagles. The Saints were the only team that we could have lost to and it would have been expected. But I feel like that 13-10 victory over the Saints has somehow covered over the ugliness in our Offense that still exists. And for the first time, our Defense got worked over... BY THE COLTS!

Moving on to this weeks game. We could talk forever about last week and the blunder that it was... 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Bucs)

You may think of Tony Dungy or Jon Gruden when you hear Tampa Bay, which means you're my age, Ha! After Gruden won a Super Bowl with Dungy's team, he retired from the Bucs and went into broadcasting with MNF (Monday Night Football), and is now the head coach of the LA Raiders. The team that traded us Amari Cooper, which we have been thankful for, until last weeks game. Kidding, kind of. 

The modern day Bucs are coached by Dirk Koetter. This team won their first two games of the season big over the Saints and the Eagles. Shockingly, two teams that the Cowboys have defeated as well. However, Week 3 began to expose areas of weakness for the Bucs and now they are in a QB situation where they benched their "rockstar" QB, Ryan Fitzpatrick for Jameis Winston, 2013 Heisman Trophy winner with Florida State. 

Winston is a running QB. Moreso than Dak. He can throw too, but his WR's are about as reliable as our WR's were before Cooper arrived. But... he does have Mike Evans, Texas A&M grad. He is second in the league in receiving yards, 1,328 and is 6-5, weighing 231 lbs. He's a big dude that will destroy your Secondary, but he only has 5 TD's (touchdowns) on the season. So, he's their biggest threat, along with Winston and Peyton Barber rushing the ball, but they have a hard time getting into the End Zone. Something the Cowboys struggled with all last week. 

Dallas' Plan of Attack

Our Offense has to get in the END zone. We know we have to stop Evans and Winston (or Fitzy if they put him in), but if we put up a goose egg, 0, like we did last week, it's not going to matter if we stop this duo! 

Zeke is tired. His legs are slowing down and he's not as hungry as he looked earlier in the year. Zeke has only played one full season in the NFL in 2016. Last year, he was out six games, mid-season, with his suspension. This gave teams two years to watch film on him and he seems to be feeling the affects of it all. Not that I blame him. All I know is his "feed me motion" is looking a little slower these past few weeks. That Saints game took it out of him. 

What now? If your primary RB is tired, you have to get creative again with the passing game! The game against the Saints was the only creative game I've seen all year! Because we're inconsistent. We have to set a game plan for the entire game, not just the first 20 plays. Dak appears to need direction, so we need to give it to him! 

Do I think our D can hold off the Bucs, yes. But if we leave Byron Jones on the field all day chasing around Evans and Vander Esch and Smith chasing Winston, they're bound to get tired. You have to manage the clock and play smart! We did NOT do that last week. Which is why it was our first shutout since 2003. And all of this leads to, humility. I don't think we had to lose just because we were on a winning streak. But having a reality check is never a bad thing, and it may truly be what the Cowboys needed to spiral them into the Playoffs? 

Playoffs

The Eagles and Redskins won last week. Which means they are both sitting at 7-7. We need them to lose this week and us to win! That way we can clinch the NFC East! The Bucs are not playing for anything other than pride. And pride comes before a fall, right? So, GO COWBOYS!!! 

Bucs 12 ~ Cowboys 14

via @ESPN

Only one game left after this one!

If you didn't see the Fan reaction video from the Colts game, watch now.
Follow @dallascowboys on Twitter

GO MAVS!!! 15-15 (wins ~ losses)

We've lost our last four games. Even to the Clippers. 

Is it sad that the only common theme the last four games is that Dirk has played? He's played less than 8 minutes in each of the four games and scored less than 3 points per game. 

It does't help that Wesley Matthews is out of our next game, Saturday night vs. the Golden State Warriors. And Steph Curry will be playing this time! 

Doncic and Barnes are going to have to hold it down! And we need DeAndre to play as aggressive and smart as he can! He is second in the league in rebounds and the last time we played the Warriors he had 10 rebounds and 13 points! I'll take a repeat game from him! 

via @ESPN

#MFFL
#GOMAVS

GO RANGERS!!!

Beltre retires. Profar is traded. We have a new manager, Chris Woodward. It's too much. It's the last season at our stadium and they're in "rebuilding mode." Two words no fan EVER wants to hear. 

But I can't pass up the last chance to sit in the open air and the smell of fresh cut grass, so we'll be there next season. In our seats, cheering them on! 

#texasrangers
#Beltrewewillmissyou

~smile~