‘That’s what he does’ – Dallas Cowboys know exactly what weakness to exploit on the Bucs defense come Thursday night
The Dallas Cowboys just faced one of the most ferocious pass rushes in football. Against the Tampa Bay Bucs, the story is quite different. And they’ll be ready to exploit it.
Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer isn’t overthinking it ahead of Thursday Night Football.
He expects the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to bring the pressure. He’s probably right to do so. Bucs head coach Todd Bowles is known as one of the blitz-happiest coaches in the NFL, so why expect any different?
“It’s Todd Bowles, Todd Bowles pressures,” Schottenheimer told reporters on Tuesday. “That’s what he does, man. And he’s one of the best, one of the best certainly I’ve gone up against in my career.”
The numbers suggest Schotty is spot on about Bowles’ gameplan going into the Week 5 matchup. And chances are, even though he won’t say it, he and the Cowboys know it’s become one of the Bucs’ biggest weaknesses.
The Cowboys are right to expect a heavy dose of blitzing
The stats surely suggest Schottenheimer is right about Bowles’ blitzes. Through four weeks, the Bucs boast the fourth-highest blitz rate in the NFL. According to Sumer Sports, they blitz on 40% of opponents’ dropbacks. Different year, same ol’ Bowles.
“Got some new faces that always makes it a little bit challenging,” Schottenheimer said of the Bucs defense. “Bowles has got a rookie MIKE linebacker in (Josiah Trotter). He’s got a rookie nickel, Keionte Scott. Got a rookie edge piece (Rueben Bain Jr.). So, they’ve got some of the same things that we’re dealing with with young players. But, the minute you think Todd Bowles isn’t going to pressure, you’re probably making a mistake.”
This time, however, Schottenheimer probably knows Bowles would be the one making a mistake by blitzing.
Not only is Dak Prescott known as one the most dangerous quarterbacks against the blitz, but the Bucs defense isn’t getting its money’s worth for sending 5+ defenders. Despite their high blitz rate, they’re dead last in the league in pressure rate.
And Bowles knows how it goes when you blitz Prescott, too. He’s seen it firsthand. In the 2022-2023 playoffs, the Bucs blitzed the Cowboys in 35% of his dropbacks. The result? Dak completed nine of 12 pass attempts for 109 yards and one touchdown.
Unfortunately for Tampa, the alternative is for Dak to be given free clean pockets. And with George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb at his disposal, that’s just not a good idea. Against no blitz and with a clean pocket, Prescott is carving up opposing secondaries, ranking 4th in EPA per play.
In other words, Bowles is being faced with a lose-lose proposition. The Cowboys aspire to be GOTI—the Greatest Offense There Is—and these dilemmas is exactly what they want opposing teams facing.
The following is true, though: The Bucs know how to stuff the run. So even though the Cowboys can expect an easier pass defense than that of the Houston Texans, they better be ready to lean on Dak and Co. if the run game isn’t there.
