Seriously, cancel your plans. Football is back and it starts with the Thursday Night opener between The Dallas Cowboys and the defending Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Football, and specifically the NFL, isn't America's past time. It's America's passion. There is no single sport that gobbles up our money, our eyeballs and our attention like the NFL. You can try and deny it, but this is where I would bury you in an avalanche of statistical data that would have you tapping out or begging your corner to throw in the towel. So while we're gonna take a deeper dive into the entire season a little later, let's focus in on the opener.
Since 2004 the NFL has started the season with the defending champions hosting a premiere team on a Thursday Night. That's why The Bucs are at home against Dallas. Say what you want man but Dallas brings in viewers plain and simple. History, is against The Boys tonight. Since 2004 only twice has the home team lost this game. There was the odd 2013 season where The Ravens had to play on the road because of parking conflicts with the Orioles who were also playing at home that night. Ravens ended up going on the road to Denver and just got gobsmacked by The Broncos 49-27 in a game where Peyton Manning threw 7 TD passes. Interestingly enough, the other two times the champs lost at home involve in some way key parts of tonight's game: The Tom Brady led Patriots lost at home in Foxboro to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2017, and the 2012 Giants lost at home after winning Super Bowl 46 to... The Dallas Cowboys. Otherwise it's been home cooking for the win on Thursdays.
So what to expect tonight? Expect The Buccaneers to look EXACTLY like the team that won Super Bowl 55, because they are EXACT SAME TEAM. Tampa GM Jason Licht did an amazing job of bringing back all 22 starters from the team that beat up Kansas City.. 23 if you include WR Antonio Brown who didn't start but certainly has starting talent. Add in that The Bucs last year started 7-5 before winning out( by an average of 14.8 points per game) and you get the sense this team is primed to do what was last done by a Tom Brady quarterbacked team..repeat.
As for Dallas, so many questions. Dak Prescott is back and appears healthy. Remember last season he was pace to break Peyton Manning's single season passing mark of 5,477 yards. He should be good to put up huge numbers with WRS CeeDee Lamb, Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup. The Dallas defense however is really a question mark: in 2020 they set a franchise record for most points allowed in a single season. Can new defensive coordinator Dan Quinn get these guys to play as a unit and attack? There are so many questions about Dallas. Will Ezekiel Elliott return to form to validate that monster contract? Will Head Coach Mike McCarthy show he's capable of getting Dallas. back into the post season? Will Owner/GM Jerry Jones get out of the way? Dallas already has one record they don't want. OL Zach Martin is out tonight because of COVID-19 protocols making him the first player to miss a game in 2021.
How will it all play out? Again history is majorly skewed towards The Bucs. But that's not what's really important. What's important is that we got a GAME to watch tonight people!! Let's have fun doing it.
