NBC implemented their flex option in switching off the originally scheduled game for their Sunday night telecast, the Cleveland Browns at the Cincinnati Bengals, to the matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys.
It is an interesting choice.
Now, for those of us old enough to remember when local television only broadcast your team’s away games and the national broadcast featured the Dallas Cowboys as often as an advertisement for a beer, the Cowboys being a choice this season is a recent revelation. The Cowboys became America’s Team with the extensive exposure in the 60’s and 70’s, but this year FOX was bemoaning the fact that their featured Thanksgiving game had two teams going nowhere this season, the Cowboys and New York Giants.
Now, four weeks later, NBC is choosing the Cowboys to put in their primetime spot.
Or perhaps, more accurately stated, the network is choosing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to spotlight tonight. After all, Tampa Bay Quarterback Baker Mayfield is worth the price of admission. This kid has an infectious attitude that both his teammates and fans respond to, and his opponents detest. Trust me, everyone who has ever opposed Mayfield would like to cold cock him given the chance.
That is a compliment to his competitive spirit.
It has taken a few years for the 2018 quarterback class to find their footing in the National Football League, but this year the first three quarterbacks chosen that season have led their current teams to the top of their division standings. Mayfield was the first player taken in the 2018 NFL draft, selected by the Cleveland Browns. Don’t you think that team would like to have him now that he has emerged as a star over the mess they currently employ in Cleveland?
While Mayfield has hit paydirt with his fourth team, so too has the third overall choice in that draft, Sam Darnold. He has the Vikings tied with the Detroit Lions with 12 wins in 14 decisions. That same year, 2018, the Buffalo Bills selected Josh Allen with the seventh overall selection. Allen is on pace to win a Most Valuable Player Award this season.
Perhaps somebody ought to look up Josh Rosen, who was also taken in that draft with the tenth pick by the Arizona Cardinals. Seems vintage 2018 quarterbacks have come of age.
So, Mayfield leads his first place Buccaneers into Dallas tonight while looking to score enough to compensate for a Tampa Bay injured defense. Last week, as underdogs in Los Angeles, the Buccaneers lit up the defense that came into the week allowing the fewest points in the league, the Chargers. Mayfield led an offense that scored 40 at SoFi Stadium and tonight looks to run up the score on a Dallas defense without the Chargers credentials.
But, unlike last week, the Buccaneers are not underdogs in this one. Instead, off their impressive run of four straight wins since their November 17th bye week the Buccaneers have risen in status to be favored on the road in this one.
The Cowboys are still suffering through a season in which they entered without a running game threat and then suffered key injuries on both sides of the ball. That combination had Dallas drop in the standings like an anvil off a roof.
But, after five straight mid-season losses and drubbings by the Philadelphia Eagles and Houston Texans by scores of 34-6 and 34-10, the Cowboys found some resilience. They upset the Washington Commanders on the road as a double-digit underdog and have won three of their most recent four games.
What that leaves us with tonight is a Dallas team playing for respect and a Buccaneers squad favored on the road, a role they have split in four point spread decisions this year. The Bucs are good enough to beat the Detroit Lions on the road and hammer the Chargers on their home field in second and fifteen week results.
Whether they are good enough to win in Dallas tonight and cover the point spread is another question, and I don’t have the answer.