Cowboys vs. Buccaneers: Full Report Card Grades for Dallas

After having their weaknesses exploited on Sunday Night Football last week against the New York Giants in their second loss of the season, the Dallas Cowboys needed to rebound in a big way in Week 15. The problem is that the Cowboys needed this rebound victory against one of the hottest teams in football in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Cowboys opened the game with a nice drive. Dak Prescott looked more comfortable after a difficult game last week. Ezekiel Elliott got off to his typical play, picking up yardage with ease. However, as the Cowboys got deep in Tampa Bay territory, mental mistakes and penalties led to a halt to their drive. Dan Bailey was brought in to connect on a 56-yard field goal. However, his kick was short and, that gave the Buccaneers great territory.

Jameis Winston and company got into Dallas territory after a big pass interference penalty on Brandon Carr. After Byron Jones made a big pass breakup on third down, the Bucs were forced to kick a short field goal and Roberto Aguayo connected, putting Tampa Bay up three.

Dallas responded with an 11-play, 65-yard drive that, again, brought the offense deep inside Tampa Bay territory. However, a penalty on Doug Free stalled the drive, and the Cowboys were forced to settle for three points. On the first play of the following drive for the Buccaneers, Terrell McClain got pressure on Winston and forced a strip-sack that was recovered by rookie Maliek Collins deep inside Tampa Bay territory. Five plays later, the Cowboys took the lead with a two-yard touchdown run from Elliott.

Tampa Bay's drive in response to the Cowboys' touchdown was a quick drive that went for just four yards on three plays. Dallas capitalized on the field possession and scored yet another touchdown after Prescott's two-yard touchdown rush. The Bucs trimmed the deficit in the next possession when they scored a field goal to make the score 17-6.

Near the end of the first half, the Cowboys were given the chance to put up more points. But questionable play-calling paired with penalties stalled the drive and forced the Cowboys to settle for a 52-yard field-goal attempt. The kick had the distance, but it sailed just to the left of the upright. In response to the short field, the Bucs were able to heave a Hail Mary, but it was instead intercepted by Jones, giving him his first interception of his career.

In the second half, the Buccaneers came out strong. They switched up their offensive style to a no-huddle, which tired out the Cowboys' defensive front that was already thin due to injuries to starters Tyrone Crawford and DeMarcus Lawrence. The Bucs capped off the drive with a 42-yard touchdown pass from Winston to Adam Humphries.

After a quick drive that resulted in a punt after four plays, the Buccaneers took the lead off a 10-play, 81-yard drive that took just five minutes. At the point, despite the massive difference in yardage, the mental mistakes caught up to a Cowboys team that could've put this game away in the first half.

Nevertheless, the Cowboys tied up the score with a field goal after a 10-play, 58-yard drive. In response to Dallas' field goal, Winston's pass on third down sailed high, and it landed in the arms of Jeff Heath, marking the third time Heath has intercepted Winston in the past two seasons. Dallas was only able to get a field goal out of the short field, but it still gave the Cowboys the lead and a much-needed momentum boost.

Tampa Bay responded with a quick three-play drive that went for just eight yards. Dallas got the ball back and instead of handing it off to Elliott to milk the clock, Prescott found Jason Witten for a big pass. But after Witten caught the pass, a big hit from Kwon Alexander forced a fumble, and the Bucs were able to recover.

Despite the short field, the Cowboys tightened up on defense, and it led to another three-and-out possession for the Bucs, forcing them to punt the ball away with about seven minutes left to play. Dallas responded with an eight-play, 81-yard drive. However, on 4th-and-short, the Cowboys decided to opt to take the field goal rather than scoring the kill shot. Bailey connected on another field goal that gave the Cowboys a six-point lead.

In response to that, the Buccaneers couldn't get anything in large part due to the presence of David Irving and his impact off the edge. Tampa Bay's drive lasted just three plays, and that gave the Cowboys the ball back with a chance to close it out. In that drive, despite a long run from Elliott, the Buccaneers had three timeouts and the two-minute warning to stop the clock. The Buccaneers forced the stop and were given the ball back.

But despite getting the ball back, Irving kept getting pressure off the edge, and that led to Winston sailing passes high. On fourth down, Winston rolled out right and looked deep, looking for Russell Shepard. Orlando Scandrick came up with the interception, and the Cowboys were able to seal their 12th victory after Prescott and company ended the game on offense in victory formation.

Read on for full grades and analysis from the Cowboys' 12th win of the season.

Passing Offense

Ron Jenkins/Associated Press

After getting exposed a bit last week against the Giants, Prescott responded in a huge way in this game on prime time against a quiet, yet talented defense. Despite the mental mistakes and multiple occasions where the Cowboys were behind the sticks in large part due to penalties, Prescott finished the day completing 32 of 36 passes for 279 yards. He didn't throw for a touchdown in this game, but he rushed for one in the second quarter.

Dallas' offensive line looked more in sync in this game despite the penalties, and that led to more time in the pocket for Prescott to go through his reads and perform on the level that he has played at mostly this season. Prescott stayed turnover-free in this game, and it was nice seeing his mental processing clock speed up a bit, which has been one of the knocks I've noticed with his game.

This was an impressive performance from Prescott, and if he continues games like this, there's no reason why the Cowboys don't make things interesting in the postseason.

Grade: A

Rushing Offense

Ron Jenkins/Associated Press

The man can only perform when the Cowboys give him the ball. It seems to become a reoccurring trend each week, as the Cowboys feed Elliott early and often. But they tend to go away from him in the second quarter, especially when they give him the third offensive series off.

At a point late in the third quarter, Elliott had only 16 carries. As the team's best weapon on the offensive side of the ball, Elliott has to be given the ball more. Nevertheless, he finished the day with 188 total yards, 159 rushing and 29 receiving, and a touchdown.

This game was another example of how Elliott's productivity is not entirely on the offensive line. There were multiple runs in this game where Elliott was bottled up, but his lateral quickness and stature give him the ability to make quick bounces in the Cowboys' zone-blocking scheme. That has led to some huge payoffs for the Cowboys.

Grade: A

Passing Defense

Michael Ainsworth/Associated Press

After an impressive performance last week against the Giants, the Cowboys passing defense impressed once again. Despite being without their top cover corner in Morris Claiborne, the Cowboys performed against another productive offense. Even though they without two of the team's best pass-rushers, David Irving and Terrell McClain were menaces today on the defensive line.

The Cowboys forced four takeaways, three interceptions and a fumble. Despite not having the most talent on the defensive line and in the back end, the Cowboys have gotten production when they've needed it this season. If this defense can continue to create opportunities for takeaways, the Cowboys should and will be clear favorites out of the NFC.

In the fourth quarter, the Buccaneers had four offensive drives. They combined for eight yards on 17 plays. Yes, you read that correctly. It was the Cowboys defense who was the more impressive unit of the three for the Cowboys in this game. That's something you may not have heard all season with the Cowboys.

Grade: A-

Rushing Defense

Michael Ainsworth/Associated Press

The Cowboys rank near the top of the league in terms of rushing defense. And while we'd like to think that's due to their "hustle-style" defense and the impact of Sean Lee, it's more due to the fact that the Cowboys' ability to sustain long drives on offense leads to opposing offenses struggling to run with consistency.

In this game, despite facing a nice running back duo of Doug Martin and Charles Sims, the Cowboys kept the Buccaneers to just 52 yards on the ground on 20 carries. That's a yards-per-carry average of 2.6 yards. If the Cowboys have to face teams who run the ball well like the Seahawks or the Falcons, they will be well-equipped, as they do have the ability to make teams one-dimensional.

Grade: A

Special Teams

Michael Ainsworth/Associated Press

Usually, Bailey is money in the bank. However, he missed two field goals in this game. Granted they were long in distance, but Bailey's strength has never been his ability to kick the ball with power on a consistent basis. Still, Bailey converted on four of six opportunities.

In last week's offensive struggle against the Giants, punter Chris Jones was on the field quite often. However, he had just two punts in this game for 82 yards. Toward the end of the game, when the Buccaneers were getting the ball back with one more chance, Jones pinned the Buccaneers inside their own red zone.

One thing to note about the special teams is that Lucky Whitehead continues to make ill-advised decisions with his returns. It would be different if he was picking up big yardage at times. But for a player who has dealt with a fumbling concern in his young career, it may not be worth the three yards he gets per return.

Grade: B

Coaching

Ron Jenkins/Associated Press

I had a feeling that this game was going to be blowout in favor of the Cowboys all week. And if you look at the statistics at the half, it seemed just like that. However, penalties and mental mistakes led to drives ending short. And while the Cowboys have stayed away from these factors for the majority of the season, the past three games are proof that the Cowboys still have work to do in this department.

Three separate offensive lineman were called for back-breaking penalties, and while it's unfair to put the entire burden on the coaching staff, some of the onus is on the coaches for evening these kinks out of the game.

While Prescott and Elliott both had huge days, offensive coordinator Scott Linehan made a ton of interesting play calls in this game. There has been a trend this season where he has gotten too cute with his play-calling. That was fully evident on a 3rd-and-2 when the Cowboys needed the first down to respond to Tampa Bay's two scores in the third quarter.

Instead of trusting the offensive line and perhaps the best back in football to pick up the short yardage, Linehan got cute and dialed up a pitch-reverse, a play that starts with a pitch to Elliott and then a pitch to Whitehead on the reverse. There was miscommunication between the pitch from Elliott to Whitehead, and that led to the Cowboys picking up their own fumble and having to punt.

Sometimes, mistakes can't be made up for. And if an odd play call is made against a top defense in the playoffs, it may be something the Cowboys, led by their rookies who will play their first playoff games, may not be able to make up for. Dallas had a nice win in Week 15, but with another good team in the Detroit Lions coming to town on the day after Christmas, there are still some areas the Cowboys need to improve.

Grade: B

Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter @RyanRattyNFL. I'm always willing to talk football.