The Dallas Cowboys took care of the Carolina Panthers last week with relative ease. In many ways it was arguably their most dominant performance of the season. From an offensive standpoint, a big reason for this was how both CeeDee Lamb and Rico Dowdle showed up. Both Lamb and Dowdle had big contributions that helped lift Dallas on top.
You will likely not be shocked to learn that both Lamb and Dowdle over-delivered on their projected statistics from NFL Pro that we talked about last week.
Projected Cooper Rush at Carolina: 232.3 pass yards, 1.1 pass TD, 0.7 INT, 5.1 rush yards, 0.1 rush TD
Actual: 214 yards, 3 TDs, 5 rush yards Projected Rico Dowdle at Carolina: 62.5 rush yards, 0.4 rush TD, 2.6 rec, 18.5 rec TD, 0.1 rec TD
Actual: 149 rush yards Projected CeeDee Lamb at Carolina: 6.4 rec, 69 yards, 0.4 TD
Actual: 9 rec, 116 yards, 1 TD Projected Jalen Tolbert at Carolina: 2.6 rec, 31 yards, 0.2 TD
Actual: 1 rec, 11 yards, 1 TD Projected Jake Ferguson at Carolina: 4.2 rec, 43.8 yards, 0.3 TD
Actual: 2 rec, 23 yards
Cooper Rush also delivered well over his projected numbers from a passing touchdown standpoint and in that sense Jalen Tolbert also came up strong. However, there is no question that the strong over-deliveries came by way of Lamb and Dowdle.
What is NFL Pro calling for this week from Cowboys players, though? Could it possible be more?
Here is how NFL Pro sees Sunday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers going.
As noted things have become a bit beefier for both Lamb and Dowdle. Interestingly, Dowdle is even getting some more love as a receiver.
On the other side of things the projections for Tampa’s ground game are a bit more modest than we may have initially assumed, but to be fair they are based around Bucky Irving specifically and not account for Rachaad White and the work that he will ultimately do.
It stands to reason that Tampa will control things on the ground across the game as a whole. In fact, the NFL Pro model has given the Bucs the advantage in way more ways than not.
The Cowboys are underdogs, and even though they have won three out of their last four, the Buccaneers team that they are facing is undefeated in that same stretch. It will hardly be the most difficult game that they have ever played, but it certainly will not be easy.