3 Things Buccaneers Must Do to Beat the Cowboys on Thursday Night Football

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a tough, tough task on Thursday Night Football. They head to AT&T Stadium to face the Dallas Cowboys, and when they do, they'll be hoping to get a win on a quick turnaround for their first victory of the year.

The Cowboys are 2-2, and although they've struggled at times and have a questionable defense, they pose a lot of problems for Tampa Bay. If the Bucs want to win this game, there are a few things they'll simply have to do to will it to victory.

Here are three keys to victory for Tampa Bay on Thursday night:

Run the Football

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jalon Daniels (10) hands off the ball to running back Bucky Irving (7) | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Bucs had a pretty hard time running the football in Week 4 against the Green Bay Packers. The Bucs averaged 3.8 yards per carry on designed runs with an EPA/rush of -0.036 and a success rate of 44.0%. Jalon Daniels propped up the brunt of it with 55 yards on the ground, but that's not good enough.

If the Bucs want to help Daniels in his second-ever NFL start, they'll have to do better with the ground game. That might involve finding better ways for running back Kenny Gainwell to get going (Gainwell had less than two yards per carry last week) or using Sean Tucker, who had three carries and a touchdown, a little bit more.

The Bucs might have to beat this Cowboys team in a shootout. They can't do that if they can't get the ground game going.

Find a Way to Get to Dak Prescott

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) jogs onto the field before the game against the Houston Texans | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

This Cowboys offense has the talent to annihilate opposing defenses. Their wideout duo of George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb may be the best in the NFL, and tight end Jake Ferguson also gives them some lethal options up the middle. The whole offense is commanded by elite quarterback Dak Prescott, and if the Bucs have any hope of slowing down this offense, it will have to be by getting pressure.

Prescott's EPA/play when pressured is -0.21, per SumerSports, and he's completed 23 of 48 passes for one touchdown, one pick and six sacks. The Bucs need to disrupt Prescott at the line of scrimmage to be able to stop him from finding his skill position weapons because, simply put, they will be open.

Unfortunately, Tampa Bay has a pressure rate of 26.5% — dead last in the NFL. The Bucs are also 25th in the league in sacks, and the Bucs will simply have to get some on Thursday night to have any sort of hope. We'll see what Bowles cooks up.

Stretch the Field Offensively

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jalon Daniels (10) rolls out with the ball during the game against the Green Bay Packers | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

As it stands, Tampa Bay's air yards per completion of 3.39 yards is the worst in the NFL, and it's even significantly behind the Atlanta Falcons' 4.03 yards in 31st place. The Bucs aren't actually being conservative with their passing game — they're 14th in the league in average depth of target — they just aren't hitting any deep shots whatsoever.

In Week 4 specifically, during Daniels' first start, the Bucs had just 1.53 air yards per completion (31 of 32 teams) and 4.19 ADOT (31 of 32 teams). That number has to be significantly higher if Tampa Bay wants to have any shot of beating Dallas, because if Dallas' offense is going to score, the Bucs will have to keep up.

Throwing passes behind the line of scrimmage won't do that. Tampa Bay has to go long (or at least intermediate!) if it wants to come out of Dallas with a victory Thursday night.

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