The NFL’s third annual ‘Super Wild Card Weekend,’ so dubbed when the playoff field expanded from 12 to 14 teams starting with the 2020 season, concluded Monday night as the Dallas Cowboys eliminated Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31-14.
The Cowboys advance to face the NFC West champion San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium next Sunday night, while Brady and the Bucs advance to an offseason teeming with uncertainty.
While ‘America’s Team’ is obviously the big victor as it reaches the divisional round for the sixth time in the past 15 years, a game of this magnitude deserve a special breakdown of winners and losers:
WINNERS
Dak Prescott: The critics, this one included, had harped on his seven-game streak throwing an interception during a season when Prescott had a league-high 15 INTs. But no picks Monday, when Prescott turned in one of the great individual playoff performances by a Dallas quarterback. He became the fifth player in postseason history to pass for at least four TDs in a game while rushing for another – and the first Cowboys player to do so. He also completed 11 straight passes at one point, breaking Troy Aikman’s team record for consecutive connections in a playoff game. Beat the Niners, and Prescott’s playoff record evens at 3-3.
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Mike McCarthy: Whether or not he was coaching for his job, hard to believe he won’t be back for a fourth season now. Dallas looked fabulous in all facets, save special teams, as it reached the playoffs in successive seasons for the first time in 15 years. The win at Tampa was also the Cowboys’ first playoff win on the road in 30 years (1992 NFC title game in San Francisco). Now McCarthy, with one more win, can put America’s Team back into the conference championship round for the first time in 27 years.
NFC East: Dallas’ win means the entire division, save the Washington Commanders, will be in action during the divisional round. It’s the first time a trio from a single division will be among a conference’s final four since the league realigned in 2002.
Ryan Jensen: The Bucs’ Pro Bowl center, a favorite of Brady’s, hadn’t played all season after suffering a knee injury at the outset of training camp. Ultimately, he didn’t make a difference (his personal foul penalty included), but impressive he was out there at all.
Cowboys tight ends: A huge part of Monday’s attack, Dalton Schultz and Jake Ferguson combined for eight receptions and 129 yards. Schultz became the first Dallas TE with multiple TD catches in a playoff game.
Scoring: For the first time in the Super Bowl era (since 1966), seven teams scored at least 30 points in a single playoff round.
Cowboys offensive line: Jason Peters, who will be 41 next week, was the surprising starter at left tackle and didn’t make it through the game after injuring his hip. No matter. Dallas returned to a more familiar lineup, first-round rookie Tyler Smith moving back out to left tackle from left guard as the offense continued mowing down the Bucs. Dallas wound up averaging 6.2 yards per play, and Prescott was only sacked once.
Dan Quinn: The man who was infamously on the wrong end of a Brady comeback six years ago when Quinn’s Atlanta Falcons crumbled in Super Bowl 51, Dallas’ defensive coordinator put the clamps on the GOAT’s current team Monday. Tampa Bay couldn’t run the ball effectively (per usual), TB12 constantly had the pass rush in his grill, and S Jayron Kearse’s second-quarter interception in the end zone was probably the game’s turning point with the Bucs threatening to take the lead.
49ers: They’ve won a league-best 11 straight, including Saturday’s 41-23 wild-card win over the Seattle Seahawks – the only other winning margin of the postseason’s opening weekend by more than one score – and next draw the Cowboys with two extra days of rest and preparation.
LOSERS
Cowboys: Not only do they have to travel back across the country with a midweek pit stop in Texas before heading to the Bay Area to face the league’s hottest team, the Cowboys will have to play the scalding Niners on a short week.
Odell Beckham Jr.: Wasn’t he supposed to be the missing piece of Dallas’ offense? Still unsigned, it appears OBJ won’t be the Cowboys’ hood ornament – a ‘role’ that’s been nicely filled by fellow veteran WR T.Y. Hilton.
Brett Maher: The Dallas kicker, who’s in the midst of his third stint with the team, entered Monday having attempted a league-high 53 extra-point attempts during the 2022 season and converting 50. Then Maher’s nightmare began. He became the first man in league history to miss four PATs in a game, playoffs or otherwise, extending his streak to five after he also misfired in the Cowboys’ Week 18 loss to Washington. Dallas didn’t need the points, but given how tight NFL games are this time of year – and the near certainty this kind of margin for error won’t exist against San Francisco – seems reasonable the Cowboys will be auditioning potential replacements in the days ahead.
Todd Bowles: You can’t call his first season coaching the Buccaneers an unmitigated disaster given they won the NFC South. But this team wasn’t even a shadow of what it had been the previous two years, and Bowles’ defense was abominable in his playoff debut as a head coach. Very hard to foresee where this organization is headed in 2023.
Tom Brady: If this was the end, in Tampa or permanently, obviously not the way TB12 wanted to go out. Brady suffered his first loss to the Cowboys in eight matchups; threw his first red-zone interception since signing with the Bucs in 2020 (a record span of 410 throws inside opponents’ 20-yard line); was shut out in the first half of a playoff game for the first time since the ‘Tuck Rule’ game at Foxboro Stadium 21 years ago. And, perhaps generally, this game was a microcosm of the Bucs’ season, Brady throwing on virtually every down (a career-high 66 times) for an unbalanced offense, yet not all that effective doing so – miscommunication with teammates like WR Mike Evans ongoing – unable to push the ball downfield and toiling in a game that wasn’t in doubt after halftime. Brady wasn’t the broken quarterback, say, Peyton Manning or Brett Favre was at the end. But the pending free agent might risk that ignominy by returning for a 24th season – which would alternatively provide him another chance to go out on more appealing terms. Going to be a fascinating few weeks as he mulls his options.
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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis.