Dallas Cowboys Vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 5 Bold Predictions

RJ Ochoa

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Every week – typically on Friday – here at Inside The Star I pen 5 Bold Predictions for the upcoming Dallas Cowboys game. You can read, so you know that this is being published on Saturday, December 17th.

Considering that this is the last game that the 2016 Cowboys will play before Christmas, I wanted to spice things up a bit. Who am I? RJ Ochoa, Staff Writer for Inside The Star and the Host of Ocho Live.

Now we’ve all made a list – make sure you check it twice – and we know what we want for Christmas after getting clothes last week in the form of a loss against the Giants. We want a win, an NFC East title, a first round bye, and home-field advantage (that’s what all the cool kids get every year). This is the time of year where gifts are exchanged, so considering the yuletide greetings who’s to say we can’t get what we want?

This week’s 5 Bold Predictions will have a Christmas feel to them, and considering that they’re being published with one less than nine days until December 25th (not to mention that today is the 17th… 1+ 7 = 8 aka Ocho)… this is officially the Ocho Days Until Christmas version of my 5 Bold Predictions. Let’s roll.

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Dak The Halls: Prescott Has His Own Zeke Leap

Dak Prescott

This has been one of the longest weeks in recent history for Cowboys fans. The notion of processing a second loss on the season in the middle of December has been too much at times, but winning cures all.

Due to the nature of being the Dallas Cowboys Quarterback, Dak Prescott has been questioned quite frequently since leaving the field in New York. With the exception of that game, we have only ever seen Dak rise above adversity when he’s faced it this season.

With a lot on the line, both individually and team-wide, Dak knows that this game against Tampa Bay has a lot riding on it. Look for him to do every single thing he can to win, even outside the pocket, and to copy his buddy Zeke with a leap of his own.

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Gavin Escobar Channels The Grinch And Triples His Season Total Catches

Gavin Escobar

While they’ve certainly been very impressive, it’s fair to say that at times we all think the Cowboys are a bit predictable on offense. Last week’s drubbing in New York – an inability to score more than seven points – is proof that Scott Linehan needs to get more creative.

Look… Gavin Escobar is still a thing. He’s there, just waiting and waiting and waiting to be used. It’s been a minute, but more-seasoned members of Cowboys Nation will remember that Gavin Escobar was frequently compared to Jimmy Graham.

When the Buccaneers played Jimmy Graham and the Seahawks a few weeks ago, Graham had six catches. If the Cowboys get creative offensively and use Gavin in a similar fashion… six catches could be headed his way. As he currently has three, this would give him nine on the season and triple his current total a la The Grinch and his tiny little heart.

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Being Home For Christmas Provides A Big Time Advantage

AT&T Stadium

When you’re watching a Christmas movie there’s always that part where somebody messes up, is driving aimlessly, and “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” plays as they think about the gigantic mistake they made. You can count on me it.

The Dallas Cowboys haven’t played at home since Thanksgiving Day – think about that. That’s 24 days, over three weeks, without playing a game in your home stadium.

I’m not trying to make excuses for how poorly the Cowboys played in New York, but it’s definitely worth discussing this time they’ve been out of their hizzy. Since walking off the field against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, November 20th the Cowboys have been moving at an abnormal pace: Thanksgiving, Thursday Night Football, a mini-bye before New York.

Sunday against the Buccaneers will mark the first time that the Cowboys play back-to-back football games on Sundays since Weeks 10 and 11 against Pittsburgh and Baltimore, respectively. Normalcy is good. Being home, for Christmas, is good. It’ll show.

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The Cowboys Sack Their Turbo Man Aka Jameis Winston At Least Three Times

The popular Christmas movie Jingle All The Way features a Dad trying to find his son the one thing he wants more than anything in the world – a Turbo Man action figure.

Turbo Man is this super awesome and popular dude, and the Dad has a bit of trouble in terms of finding one for his son. It’s a great movie and there’s an epic scene at the end where Turbo Man saves the day, blah blah blah.

A few weeks ago the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wore their color rush uniforms, and you know who they looked like? Turbo Man! Seriously!

The Dad in Jingle All The Way, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, ultimately gets his hands on a Turbo Man before the movie is over (if you haven’t seen a 20-year old movie by now, I didn’t spoil it for you). The Cowboys are going to follow Arnold’s plan and get their hands on this version of Turbo Man – Jameis Winston. Three sacks coming up!

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God Rest East Merry Gentlemen: Dallas Locks Up The NFC East On Sunday

Dak Prescott

Tidings of comfort and joy… that sounds nice, but a division championship sounds a whole lot better in my humble and honest opinion.

I know that technically this prediction doesn’t have 100% to do with the Cowboys/Buccaneers game, but a few things: oh well, it’s Christmas, it involves us winning the division so no complaints!

Should the Detroit Lions manage to beat, or tie with, the New York Giants on Sunday then the Cowboys will have a win-and-clinch scenario when Sunday Night Football begins.

The Dallas Cowboys have been holding down the NFC East since they took hold of it in Week 5. While they missed an opportunity to stick a fork in the whole dealio last week, it kept us on our toes and let us fully appreciate the dominance that this season truly is. God Rest East you Merry Gentlemen (the gentlemen are our rivals, except the Eagles aren’t Merry they’re the opposite of Merry which I think is horrible). We’re locking this thing up on Sunday night. Huzzah.

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Bonus Bold Predictions

Remember, if you want YOUR Bold Prediction featured here, tweet it at me! It’s that simple! Here are this week’s contributions, thanks to all those who shared!

https://twitter.com/RyanJohnstonATC/status/809945703048888320

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