Enough time has passed to talk about the positives from the Dallas Cowboys’ loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I held off on this one on purpose. Writing it Friday would have been tone-deaf, and the same goes for Saturday and Sunday.

Cowboys fans are rightfully frustrated with head coach Brian Schottenheimer and the team as a whole. A few specific players, including tight end Jake Ferguson and cornerback DaRon Bland, have been under the spotlight since Thursday.

However, the only way to look objectively at a football team is to weigh what it did right as well as what it did wrong. That’s what we’re doing here. Below are the three silver linings I took away from the loss to Tampa Bay.

Dak Prescott delivered when it mattered most

Let’s be realistic: quarterback Dak Prescott had a bad game against the Buccaneers and thus he made my list of winners and losers on the latter end. He couldn’t beat the blitz in the first half against Todd Bowles’ defense, and that sped up his process. His feet were moving too fast, and he misfired on several throws that ended up costly for Dallas.

And yet, Prescott undeniably settled down against the blitz in the second half. The numbers back it up.

In the first half, Prescott went 1-of-8 against the blitz. Late in the game, that improved to 7-of-10 for 111 yards. The Cowboys figured out what Tampa was doing.

To be fair, I put a lot of the early blitz struggles on the offensive line’s ability to pick up protections and stunts, and on Schottenheimer’s game plan. What we saw late was a similar story to the Week 4 game against the Houston Texans. Prescott stopped relying on max protection and just started throwing under pressure like a gunslinger.

He was driving on what could have been the game-winning possession, finding WR George Pickens and his other targets. That drive ended when Ferguson dropped what would have been a first down in enemy territory, and the ball wound up intercepted.

That’s on the drop. Prescott was locked in before it.

We saw this version of him against Houston, and we sort of saw it against the Baltimore Ravens in Rio. Seeing it again is a reminder of what he can do when the game is on the line.

George Pickens finally went off

Some concerns were starting to emerge about Pickens’ lack of production early in the year. The Texans game was easy to explain, since CeeDee Lamb was clearly the guy that day with 17 targets and 189 yards.

No one should have been overly concerned. This is the way the Cowboys offense will operate as long as it has two elite wide receivers. Still, a strong performance from Pickens is good for everyone in Dallas, and mostly for his confidence.

He finished with nine catches for 130 yards and a touchdown on 13 targets. The Cowboys went to him on the slant a lot once again. He probably wants a few of those targets back, but beyond the numbers, Pickens kept showing up when the Cowboys needed him the most.

It was nice to see him explode the way he did.

Tyler Guyton and Tyler Smith flashed on the left side

Last but certainly not least, we saw some flashes of what Tyler Guyton and Tyler Smith can do together.

On the opening drive, Dallas was insisting on the run game, and running back Javonte Williams picked up eight yards behind the left side of the offensive line. Then came Williams’ 1-yard touchdown run.

Go back and watch the replay. Guyton and Smith took the Buccaneers’ defensive linemen to the ground and paved a massive lane for Williams to cruise through.

It was Smith’s first game back. I’m not saying it was a perfect game for either of them, but those are the kinds of flashes the Cowboys want to see from the left side as they try to establish the run.

I’ll admit all three silver linings come from the offense. There isn’t much to say about the defense in this one. It is what it is.

By now, everyone knows that if the Cowboys are going places, their offense is the one taking them there. For now, the hope is the defense can be solid enough to avoid being too big of a speed bump along the way.