Clarence Hill: 5 Things from Dallas Cowboys’ 31-14 wildcard win vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Quarterback Dak Prescott and Dallas Cowboys heard the questions from the naysayers.

After the way Prescott played in the season final against Washington and how the Cowboys lost the game, they weren’t given much of a chance in Monday’s NFC wildcard playoffs at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Not with their dubious postseason history, including eight straight playoff losses since their last win on the road following the 1992 season, and not with seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady on the opposing sideline.

If you are going to break an historic streak, you might was well make a little history in the process.

Prescott did just that by out playing Brady by fashioning the finest performance of his career as the Cowboys left no doubt with a 31-14 domination of the Buccaneers that had Raymond James Stadium nearly empty well before the end the game and Cowboys fans rejoicing.

“I didn’t listen. Simply just didn’t listen to anybody else’s opinions, anybody else’s thoughts,” Prescott said. ?Made sure I was conscious of what I put in my own head. Got a great supporting cast, people on my team, people that believe in me. That’s all that really matters to me is staying focused on what I can.”

Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy, who has coached Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Brett Favre and won a Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers, said Prescott’s performance was as good as he’s seen from a quarterback in the playoffs.

Prescott finished 25 of 33 for 305 yards passing and a quarterback rating of 143.3.

Prescott led the Cowboys on four straight scoring drives between the second and third quarters as the Cowboys took a 24-0 lead.

Before he was done he had four touchdowns passing and one rushing to become the first player in Cowboys history to five touchdowns passing and rushing in a playoff game.

His four touchdown passes made him the third quarterback in team history to have four in one playoff game. Hall of Famer Roger Staubach did against the Los Angeles Rams in the 1975 NFC Championship.

And Hall of Fame Troy Aikman did in the 1992 Super Bowl against the Buffalo Bills in the season postseason that the Cowboys last won a road playoff game.

Does this mean history is going to repeat itself?

Time will tell.

The Cowboys have earned a date at the San Francisco 49ers next Sunday in the NFC Divisional playoffs.

It was against the 49ers that the Cowboys last won a road playoff game in 1992.

And it was the 49ers, who knocked the Cowboys out of the playoffs last season.

They have waited a year for redemption.

Until then, they will savor ending Brady’s dominance.

“This team has the talent level and now then has the intangible experiences that get knocked down getting up all of those things we hear about all of those things that represent football,” owner Jerry Jones said. “All of that stuff. This team has had some of that. And everybody on this team knew that when they came to Tampa today that the world thought that a Tom would be sitting out there taking it, snatching it out it if not the last minute but maybe even earlier. And we’re getting to go home and go again in San Francisco. And I’ll tell you we got more. We got more mustard then when we got here.”

“I would say this without exaggeration. That was a great performance. That’s how you help create a championship team right there.”

Clarence Hill’s 5 Things from Dallas Cowboys 31-14 wildcard victory vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

Dak Prescott was magnificent

So did you expect from Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott to fold in the biggest game of his career against Tom Brady after arguably his worst performance of his career in the 26-6 loss to Washington?

Prescott has made a career of rebounding from a bad outing and he unleashed a response from hell against Buccaneers Monday night.

Prescott outdueled and outshined and his seven-time Super Bowl champion counterpart from the outset.

After missing his first three passes to open the game, Prescott started a tear to end the first half, completing 15 of 20 for 189 yards with two touchdowns passing and a touchdown run, including a streak of 11 straight completions.\

He also had four scrambles for 20 yards and the touchdown.

Prescott led the Cowboys on three straight scoring drives after opening the game with two 3 and outs. They marched 80 yards on 7 plays, 80 yards in 15 plays and 91 yards on 11 plays.

The scores included passes of 22 and 11 yards to tight end Dalton Schultz and 1-yard run from Prescott.

He continued his hot hand to open the third quarter, driving the Cowboys 86 yards on 8.

His 2-yard pass to Michael Gallup made it 24-0 and essentially ended the game with Prescott completing 18 of 23 passes for 243 yards.

Most importantly, he played mistake-free, snapping a season-ending seven straight games with an interception.

And when the Buccaneers tried to get back in the game with a third quarter touchdown to make the score 24-6, Prescott followed with his fourth touchdown pass, a 18-yarder to CeeDee Lamb on fourth down to end any real comeback hopes.

Prescott become the third Cowboys quarterback to throw four touchdown passes in a playoff game, joining Roger Staubach in the 1975 NFC title game vs. the Los Angeles Rams and Troy Aikman in the 1992 Super Bowl vs. the Buffalo Bills.

Prescott finished 25 of 33 for 305 yards passing and seven rushes for 24 yards.

Guard Zack Martin said no one on the Cowboys doubt Prescott would have a great performance

“He probably gets talked about more than any football player there is right now,” Martin said. So you can’t get him down. He’s gonna come out and he’s gonna keep swinging. And that’s what he did tonight.”

Tight end Dalton Schultz makes Cowboys history

Tight end Dalton Schultz was made priority by the Cowboys in the offseason when the placed the franchise tag on him after not being able to agree to a long-term deal.

The season hasn’t gone way Schultz hoped due to injuries with just 57 catches this season after a career-high 78 in 2021.

But he saved his best for the playoffs with seven catches for a season-high 95 yards and two touchdowns against Tampa Bay.

Schultz is the first tight end in Cowboys history to have two touchdowns in the first half of a playoff game.

He proved too much for the Buccaneers, catching touchdowns of 22 and 11 yards. He also had a nifty completion on third down of 26 yards to keep a scoring driving alive.

“That’s a great reflection of he and Dak’s relationship,” McCarthy said. “Dalton goes to quarterback meetings. He puts in the work. If you look at all the great tight ends in their careers, they probably had a darn good tight end with them.”

Parsons leads charge to possibly retire Brady

All the Cowboys heard all week was about Tom Brady’s mastery over the franchise.

Brady was undefeated in seven previous matchups, including 5-0 in New England and 2-0 in Tampa Bay the past two seasons.

But he had never faced the Cowboys in the playoffs.

Credit a Cowboys defense led by all-pro linebacker Micah Parsons for ending the streak and possibly sending Brady in retirement or maybe to another team, at least.

Parsons was all over the field with a sack, quarterback hits, quarterback hurries, tackles for losses and deflected passes to confound Brady and the Buccaneers offense throughout the game.

Brady completed 35 of 66 passes for 351 yards in what could be the final game of the 45-year-old quarterback’s career. The Buccaneers rushed just 12 times for 52 yards.

And was turned back on the third drive of the game by an interception from Jayron Kerase in the end zone to erase a scoring opportunity.

Brady finally got the scoreboard with a 30-yard score to Julio Jones to make the score 24-6 after three quarters.

But it wasn’t enough.

After the Cowboys made the score 31-6, Brady was stopped for good when the Cowboys defense turned a 3rd and goal at the 2 to a turnover on downs with a sack by defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins and forced an incompletion on fourth down by Chauncey Gholston.

“The biggest thing is up front we got off blocks,” McCarthy said. “They ended up throwing the ball a lot. A lot of underneath stuff. Our underneath coverage was outstanding. We got our hands on the number of balls. We were all over the football.”

Brett Maher suddenly can’t kick

For the much of the season, kicker Brett Maher did his job as well as anyone on the team and includes Micah Parsons. He made 50 of 53 extra points and 29 of 32 field goals, including seven from 50 or more yards.

Against the Buccaneers, he set an NFL record becoming the first player in league history to miss four extra points in a playoff game.

Maher missed three PATs after touchdowns in the first half and then doinked one in the third quarter before finally making one in the fourth quarter to end his dubious streak at five (he missed his final extra point in the final regular season game, a 26-6 loss at Washington).

McCarthy said the Cowboys will be sticking with Maher against the 49ers. They will not look for another kicker this week.

“He’s disappointed,” McCarthy said. “We need him. We need him to focus us. He has been super clutch for us all year.”

Are Cowboys at disadvantage vs. 49ers?

The Dallas Cowboys are happy to be moving on the second round. But they can’t be pleased about going into the game with a decided rest disadvantage against the San Francisco 49ers.

The game is set for Sunday night.

But the Cowboys, who played Monday night, must travel on a short week, while the 49ers will be at home with two extra days of rest after beating the Seattle Seahawks in the wildcard game on Saturday night.

It is also a cross-country journey for the Cowboys, who played in Tampa Bay in the East Coast and now head home before going to the West Coast for the game in North California.

It’s unfair.

“What are we going to do about it,” McCarthy said. “The game is set. I promise we will be there.”

The Cowboys are just happy to be here.

“Yeah, excited for it. It’s a good team,” Prescott said. “They took us out last year. We know what we have ahead of us. Just going to be another great week of preparation and looking forward to it.”