Tampa Bay just seven days ago played one of their better games in awhile on offense. Sunday vs the Cowboys, they had the squeeze put on them, as Dallas beat the Bucs 16-10 in Big D.
The Bucs offense had just 166 total yards on the day, as Josh Freeman had issues all afternoon doing anything moving the football.
Dallas turned a couple of short fields into scores early, as they scored twice starting in Tampa Bay territory after turnovers. They also overcame three turnovers by QB Tony Romo — two of them on plays reversed by replay
DeMarco Murray had an 11-yard TD run and Dan Bailey kicked field goals of 32, 26 and 22 yards for the Cowboys in the six-point win. Romo completed 25-of-39 passes for 283 yards and an interception for the Cowboys, who bounced back from a 27-7 loss to Seattle last week.
The Cowboys suffocated Freeman, as he hit on just 10-of-28 passes for 110 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Rookie RB Doug Martin carried the ball 19 times for 53 yards in defeat.
The Bucs offense did little, and also were not helped by two fumbles by Freeman the Bucs managed to recover. One of those was on third down at their own 1, setting up Dez Bryant’s 45-punt return to the 6 that set up Bailey’s final field goal with 2:43 left in the game.
Tampa Bay got 70 of their yards after that, setting up Connor Barth’s 28-yard field goal before the final onside kick attempt.
Each team capitalized off a turnover in the first quarter. Romo was picked off by Aqib Talib on the opening possession of the game. A defensive pass interference penalty quickly put Tampa Bay at the Dallas 12-yard line. After Martin got two yards on 4th-and-1, Freeman found Luke Stocker in the left side of the end zone.
But Freeman was picked off on the Buccaneers’ next drive. Sean Lee recorded an interception off a D.J. Ware dropped pass on 3rd-and-14. The Cowboys took over at the 23-yard line of Tampa Bay. Murray caught a 14-yard pass before finding the end zone on an 11-yard run. The second-year running back out of Oklahoma used his blockers on the left side to make it 7-7 with 1:22 remaining.
Another Tampa Bay turnover late in the second stanza resulted in three more points for Dallas. Jordan Shipley fumbled a punt and the Cowboys recovered the ball. A roughing the kicker penalty was added on, putting the home team at the 24-yard line. Bailey made a 32-yard field goal to make it 10-7 with 2:51 to go.
