Dallas Cowboys confidently moving on to Tampa Bay, not focused on Tom Brady’s mastery

The Dallas Cowboys still don’t have the proper words to explain their shocking debacle in the 26-6 loss to the Washington Commanders in regular-season final.

It was such a woeful performance in game they were trying to win that they can’t ignore the things that went wrong, namely the horrible play of quarterback Dak Prescott as well as the continued struggles of the offensive line in blocking for the run and the pass not mention the concerns at cornerback opposite Trevon Diggs.

But it’s a situation where the Cowboys don’t want to overvalue one disappointing game and overlook the successes they have had over a 17 games that has them in playoffs with a 12-5 mark for the second straight season.

So the Cowboys have addressed their issues against the Washington, buried the tape and are confidently moving on to Monday’s NFC wildcard game at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-9).

“The nice thing is we’ve had a chance to reboot and get ready and start planning with confidence,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “I have great confidence we’ll be ready to go and going in there to win the game.”

That’s easier said than done considering how the Cowboys ended the season who they will be going up against in the playoffs.

While the Buccaneers look nothing like the Super Bowl title team of two years ago they do employ a quarterback who knows nothing but success against the Cowboys in seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady.

Brady is 7-0 all-time against the Cowboys, including a 5-0 record with the New England Patriots and a 2-0 mark in Tampa Bay the past two seasons. The Cowboys lost 31-29 in the 2021 season opener and 19-3 in the 2022 season opener, which was their worst performance of the year until the final game vs. Washington.

McCarthy said the last two games are all that matters.

“Clearly, what we’ll pay the most attention to is we have had the opportunity to compete twice against Tom Brady and Tampa,” McCarthy said. “That’s really as far as it goes with us. That’s all we can focus on. We have zero responsibility or even time that will be wasted on what happened prior to those two games. None of that responsibility falls to us.”

The responsibility that the Cowboys are most concerned about is getting themselves back on the right track and playing their best football in the playoffs.

They would have had to do that regardless of the outcome against Washington.

“There is always a turn the page, reboot, whatever phrase you’re looking to use when the regular season ends and the playoffs start,” McCarthy said. I have confidence in our football team regardless of who we line up against in the playoffs, that we’ll be successful. We have built that over the course of the offseason, training camp and … you’re as good as all your parts. So I feel like what we’re capable of doing is very high and a lot of belief and confidence. And we’ll get ready to go.”

The Cowboys feel good about getting center Tyler Biadasz back to help stabilize the offensive line. He was sidelined early in Week 17 against Tennessee with a high ankle sprain and missed the Washington game.

And they believe the run defense will be helped by the return of nose tackle Johnathan Hankins (pectoral injury) and linebacker Leighton Vander Esch (pinched nerve). Both missed the last four games of the season.

“I feel good about [them],” McCarthy said Monday. “They looked very positive today, so we’ll see where they are on Wednesday, but their arrow is pointing up.”

Said vice president Stephen Jones: “That’s our hope right now. You never know once you get them out there practicing, if you have a setback or something but, right now, I think our trainers feel good about where they’ve progressed up to this point, and they’re ready for them to work back into practice this week and get ready to go play the Buccaneers.”

The Cowboys are still trying to figure a replacement for cornerback Anthony Brown (achilles) opposite Diggs. Trayvon Mullen and Nahshon Wright alternated at the position against the Washington to mixed results.

The Cowboys signed 10-year veteran and three-time Pro Bowler Xavier Rhodes to practice squad to give them an experience option and he could see action against Tampa Bay.

The biggest issue may be the play of Prescott, who had completed just 14 of 37 passes for 128 yards with a touchdown and an interception against Washington.

It was the worst completion percentage of Prescott’s career and ended the season with a league-high tying 15 interceptions, including a streak of seven straight game with at least one to end the season.

McCarthy made a point to talk to Prescott on Monday to see where his head was at. Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore said Prescott said Prescott pressed too much against Washington trying to make a play and give the team a spark.

Bu he added that the quarterback was in good spirits when he talked to him.

“Obviously we all get to watch an ugly film and take a piece of it and then the beauty of this thing is you’ve got to move on,” Moore said. “Throughout the season, we’ve had a few losses and I think our guys have responded really well. We’ve handled these adverse moments well and responded well the next game. I feel like our guys are in a good place. Everyone’s got to kind of eat it and take it and you’ve got to go through that process and get ready.”

Prescott believes he and the Cowboys will respond the right way against Tampa Bay.

“We’ve got the right guys in this locker room [that] understand nobody played their best ball, simple as that,” Prescott said. “It starts with myself — being accountable for what you put out there, what you did. From that it’s about understanding that’s not who we are and then moving on and knowing what we’ve got ahead of us: one play at a time, one game at a time.”