3 Takeaways from Cowboys' Week 1 Loss

The Dallas Cowboys should have left Raymond James Stadium with more promise regarding their 2021 season than they entered with. 

Dak Prescott did not show any lingering effects of the serious leg injury that cost him most of the 2020 campaign. 

Prescott threw for 403 yards and put the Cowboys in a position to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers late into the fourth quarter. 

Unfortunately for the Cowboys, Tom Brady was waiting on the other sideline to deliver yet another game-winning drive. Ryan Succop hit a game-winning 36-yard field goal with seven seconds left to give Tampa Bay the 31-29 victory. 

Mike McCarthy's team has some things to work on, including its offensive balance, but there were plenty of things to build off in Week 1, which is what the other 28 teams that play on Sunday and Monday would love to have as well. 

Dak Prescott Looked Strong in 1st Post-Injury Start

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Prescott went head-to-head with Brady for four quarters and almost led the Cowboys to a victory against the reigning Super Bowl champion.

The entire Dallas organization would have taken that outcome if it was presented prior to the kickoff. 

Prescott went 42-for-58 with 403 yards, three touchdowns and a single interception. He was only sacked on one occasion. 

Prescott's lone interception was attributed to him, but CeeDee Lamb could have taken a better route to the ball that was thrown in between a few Tampa Bay defenders. 

The 28-year-old looked better as the game went on. He led the Cowboys to points on two of their final three drives. 

On the last scoring drive, Prescott had two key third-down completions to Lamb, and he used a 10-yard heave to Amari Cooper to set up Greg Zuerlein's 48-yard field goal. The last throw came after the Cowboys were pushed back 10 yards because of a holding penalty. 

Prescott set a strong base for what he can do this season. One would assume the running component of his game will get better as he develops more trust in his lower body in the pocket. He had four rushes for 13 yards on Thursday. 

If Prescott looks like the 2019 version of himself that had 4,900 passing yards this season, the Cowboys should be in a great position to win the NFC East. 

Offense Needs More Balance

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Ezekiel Elliott only had 11 carries for 33 yards. 

If the Tampa Bay defense shut down the Dallas passing game in any capacity, the Cowboys might have faced a double-digit loss because of the overreliance on the aerial attack. 

The Cowboys needed to feed their top running back more, even if they were going to get two or three yards out of every carry.

Prescott's performance masked the imbalance in play-calling, but that may not be the case throughout the 2021 campaign.

Dallas is going to have to win games on the ground regardless of which players are on the offensive line. Zach Martin missed the opener because of his presence on the COVID-19 list. 

The hope is that the Cowboys find more balance when Martin returns to the offensive line, but the Week 1 distribution is a bit concerning. 

The rushing attack may be the key offensive component that puts Dallas ahead for good in the Week 2 matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers that will be billed as a showdown between Prescott and Justin Herbert. That could be said about a handful of future matchups in which the quarterback play is equal. 

Dallas has plenty of time to work on the balance, but if the output remains the same in the next few weeks, then it could become a serious concern. 

Red Zone Offense Must Get Better

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Dallas may have won the game if it was more efficient inside the red zone. 

The Cowboys went 1-for-4 on red-zone opportunities. Tampa Bay finished the contest 3-for-5 in that category. 

Dallas wasted its first surge into the red zone in the second quarter when Greg Zuerlein missed a 31-yard field goal. It had a chance to snatch the momentum at that juncture since Tampa Bay held a one-score lead. 

Prescott failed to hit Lamb on third down, and that led to Zuerlein's miss from short range. The Cowboys avoided disaster in that spot thanks to a forced fumble on the first play of the Bucs' drive. 

That reversal of fortunes led to the only red-zone conversion of the night. Prescott hit Amari Cooper in the left corner of the end zone for a five-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to one. Zuerlein missed the extra point that followed. 

The next two trips inside the Tampa Bay 20 resulted in made field goals from Zuerlein. One came in the second quarter after an interception, and the other occurred in the third quarter. 

If Dallas found the end zone on one of those three missed chances, it might have come away from central Florida with the victory. 

Part of the inefficiency can be attributed to the offensive imbalance. Elliott had one carry in the three sets of downs that preceded the red-zone field-goal attempts. 

The Cowboys have plenty of time to make sure these mistakes do not pop up again, but it has to be frustrating for them that so many points were left on the table in what was a winnable game.