Cowboys vs. Buccaneers highlights: Dak, Dallas dominate Brady, Tampa to advance

The NFL playoff wildcard round ended Monday with Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys dominating Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning 31-14.

Prescott put in a career-best playoff performance to earn the win. He threw for four touchdowns and rushed for another while passing for 305 yards.

Meanwhile, Brady and the Buccaneers’ offense struggled to get off the ground all night. They were ruled out until the last play of the third quarter, with Brady completing just 35 of 66 passes for 351 yards and two touchdowns and throwing a costly interception into the end zone in the first half.

The Cowboys will advance to face the San Francisco 49ers in the Divisional Round (Sunday, 6:30 p.m. ET on FOX).

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Dallas Cowboys 31, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 14

big boy bag

Vita Vea caused thunder on third down, sacking Prescott to force a Cowboys three-and-out for the second straight practice to open the game.

Cowboys score first

After both teams went three-and-out in each of their first two possessions, Dallas finally got the ball moving on their third drive. Some plays from Michael Gallup and Tony Pollard, along with a rough passer penalty, set up a 22-yard TD pass from Prescott to Dalton Schultz.

The ensuing PAT went far right, however, keeping Dallas’ lead at 6-0 in the first.

Run Rachaad

Rachaad White made plenty of skipped cuts to help the Bucs finally land a first down on their third practice.

Tom Mahomes?

The 45-year-old QB made a play reminiscent of the Kansas City Chiefs star, connecting with Chris Godwin on a running shovel pass to gain 11 yards.

Brady Kearse

Moments after the show showed a graphic mentioning that Brady hadn’t thrown an interception in the red zone since joining the Buccaneers in 2020, he threw an interception. Brady threw a pick at Jayron Kearse in the end zone as he looked like he was trying to throw the ball out of bounds.

Dak Attack

On the fourth and goal from the 1 yard line, Prescott kept the ball himself on the fake pass and kicked a bootleg into the end zone for the score.

However, Brett Maher missed the PAT again, keeping the Cowboys up 12-0 with just over six minutes left in the second quarter.

Dak explains everything on the third try

Needing six yards to get first, Prescott rushed and sprawled for 10 yards to keep the Cowboys drive late in the first half moving.

Dak to Dalton for Dallas’ 3rd TD

The Cowboys remained in control for the entire first half, with Prescott once again finding Schultz in the end zone for 11 yards.

The only thing they didn’t control was their kicking game. Maher missed a third PAT, keeping the Cowboys up 18-0 just before halftime.

Gallup-ing to score

The Cowboys scored again, scoring four straight drives with a touchdown as they scored on their first possession of the second half. Prescott found Gallup deep in the end zone for his third touchdown pass of the game. Gallup looked like he was about to go out of bounds when receiving it, but the replay confirmed his take.

However, Maher missed his fourth PAT of the night, keeping a three-point game at 24-0 with about 10 minutes left in the third quarter.

The Bucs finally score

In what could be the last NFL game for both players, Brady found Julio Jones along side the end zone for a touchdown to finally get the Buccaneers on the board. Tampa was unable to convert on the two-point conversion, keeping a three-point game at 24-6 late in the third quarter.

Dallas goes there on fourth down…and scores

With Maher struggling to make his PATs, the Cowboys opted to go fourth and fourth on the Buccaneers 18-yard line. The decision paid off and more, as Prescott found CeeDee Lamb wide open for the score.

Oh, and Maher made the PAT this time to make it a 31-6 game.

The Bucs get a late score

Looking to stay respectable, Brady found Cam Brate for a foot touchdown just before the two-minute warning. He also connected with Mike Evans for the two-point conversion that made it 31-14.

The Bucs receive the kick

It was too little, too late for Tampa, who got the kick in play on the two-minute warning. It is only the fourth time this season that a team has won the free kick. Evans dropped a potential TD pass on the next play and the Bucs turned the ball over on the downs before the Cowboys killed the clock.