Clarence Hill: 5 Things from Cowboys’ 19-3 loss vs. Tampa Bay as Dak Prescott injured, needs surgery

The Dallas Cowboys’ ugly season-opening loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got worse before the final seconds ticked off the clock in the 19-3 setback at AT&T Stadium.

Quarterback Dak Prescott slammed his right hand against the hand of Tampa Bay linebacker Shaq Barrett with 6:02 remaining in the game.

After the game, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that Prescott will need surgery and miss several weeks. Jones said the injury is a fracture at the joint above Prescott’s right thumb.

Prescott was looked at on the sideline before heading to the locker room with team doctors and trainers.

Prescott did not miss a game through the first four seasons of his career. He missed 11 in 2020 after suffering a fractured ankle and missed one in 2020 with a calf strain.

Prescott completed 14 of 29 passes for 134 yards with an interception and quarterback rating of 47.2 before the injury in a game that was one the worst season opening performances in franchise history.

It was the fewest points the team scored in a season opener since 1989 when the Cowboys lost 28-0 to the New Orleans Saints in Jones’ first game at team owner.

The Cowboys suffered a seventh straight setback vs. a Tom Brady-led team.

Tom Brady is 2-0 vs. the Cowboys in Tampa Bay after going 5-0 with New England.

Clarence Hill’s 5 Things from the Cowboys loss vs. the Buccaneers:

Dak Prescott’s latest injury will cost him time

With questions on the offense line and receiver, the Cowboys have asked quarterback Dak Prescott to be the difference-maker for the offense.

Jones announced after the game that Prescott will need surgery to his injured hand. He is likely out for some time

The resulting performance Sunday from the $40 million quarterback was less than inspiring.

Don’t blame it Prescott on missing practice Thursday after hearing pop in his ankle. While giving the Cowboys a brief scare, it proved nothing more than a tearing away of scar tissue.

What was most frightful was Prescott’s performance against the Buccaneers. He was bad from start to finish.

Prescott completed 6 of 16 passes for 53 yards with an interception in the first half. He had a quarterback rating of 21.1 and his completion percentage of 38% was the worst of his career in the first half.

Prescott flirted with interceptions on multiple drives before he was picked off by Antoine Winfield in the second quarter to set up a Tampa Bay field goal.

He was undone by a dropped pass on third down from No. 1 receiver CeeDee Lamb.

But Prescott was off target and out of sync for much of the night.

Most disappointing was a miss on third-and-8 from the Cowboys 50 with 11:20 left in the game.

Prescott scrambled to his right and lofted a pass behind wide-open receiver Noah Brown, thwarting the team’s best chance at coming back from a 19-3 deficit on a drive that started by an interception from safety Donovan Wilson.

Prescott said the play was indicative of the team’s problems on offense the entire game. He wanted Brown to stop and the receiver kept going.

“Obviously we just wanted to pump fake, but he saw something different,” Prescott said. “One of those scramble plays just didn’t work out, it could have been a big play for us and it wasn’t. That play right there could sum up the

game a little bit.”

And that was before he left in the game in the fourth quarter after hitting his hand on linebacker Shaq Barrett’s hand.

Prescott left the field and ran to the locker room. The postgame news wasn’t what any Cowboy wanted to hear.

Struggles of CeeDee Lamb and the maybe WRs

The Cowboys opened the game with obvious questions at receiver. CeeDee Lamb was the only receiver on the active roster with a career touchdown reception from Dak Prescott. He was joined in the lineup by Noah Brown, Simi Fehoko and undrafted rookie Dennis Houston.

Lamb was elevated to No. 1 receiver when Amari Cooper was traded to the Cleveland Browns. The Cowboys tried to get the ball to him with a team-high 11 targets. But had only two catches for 29 yards in the game.

“I should be able to. That’s on me a little bit,” Prescott said when asked about not being able to connect with Lamb. “That’s on us, just getting on the same page. He’s a hell of a player. He’s a guy that needs the ball. We’ve got to get it to him more and that starts with me.

The rest of the receivers offered little help when it mattered. Tight end Dalton Schultz led the way with seven catches for 62 yards but they made little difference. Brown had five catches for 68 yards.

Ezekiel Elliott/Tony Pollard running tandem

The Cowboys debuted the running tandem of Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard against the Buccaneers. They were on the field together and Pollard took his turn as the lead back.

For a team that didn’t even try to run against Tampa Bay a year ago when they attempted 50 passes to 18 runs, including 11 carries for 33 yards for Elliott, the Cowboys ran the ball more effectively Sunday night.

Elliott showed some burst as he proved he was over the torn PCL that plagued him last season. He rushed 10 times for 52 yards.

Pollard, however, didn’t offer the punch the Cowboys hoped. The team was too cute early, trying him on a double reverse that lost eight yards.

He finished with 8 yards on six carries and wasn’t much of a factor in the passing game. He had two catches for 14 yards.

Cowboys defense gashed on ground

Outside of two sacks from Micah Parsons, the Cowboys defense looked nothing like the second coming of the franchise’s famed Doomsday defense. Give the defense credit for keeping the Buccaneers out of the end zone with a bend but don’t break play in the first half. Tampa Bay settled for five field goals in the first half, making four to take 12-3 lead at halftime.

But the defense stayed on the field too long and finally broke through in the third quarter when Tom Brady connected with Mike Evans for a 5-yard touchdown pass, capping a nine-play, 79-yard drive.

The Cowboys’ biggest concern was their inability stop the run.

It was supposed to be biggest focus of improvement in 2022 but the Cowboys allowed Tampa Bay running back Leonard Fournette to run over them for 127 yards on 21 carries. The Buccaneers netted 153 rushing yards as a team to more than complement Tom Brady and a passing game that found big chunks for much of the night.

Brady completed 18 of 27 passes for 212 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

How did Tyler Smith holds up at left tackle?

One of the biggest concerns coming into the season opener was rookie first-round pick Tyler Smith. The Fort Worth native made history as the first Cowboys rookie to start at left tackle in the season opener.

Smith held up OK as the temporary and possible permanent replacement for Tyron Smith at left tackle. Tyron Smith is out until at least December with an avulsion fracture. He had a false start in the first half and gave up a sack when he blocked the wrong man in the third quarter because of a miss communication.

Seven plays into the game, the concern moved from left tackle to left guard as Connor McGovern was sidelined with an ankle injury. He was replaced by backup center Matt Farniok.

“I thought he settled in during the game,” coach Mike McCarthy said of Tyler Smith. “We had a communication on the one or two plays between him and Matt [Farniok]. For the most part I thought he just went out there and played football, which we wanted him to do, and I think he’s off to a good start.”

Right tackle Terence Steele proved to be the biggest problem. He was flagged four times in the game, including three for false starts and once for holding.

The Cowboys, who led the league in penalties in 2021, were flagged 10 times for 73 yards.