Cowboys vs. Buccaneers prediction: Can Tampa Bay slow down CeeDee Lamb and high-powered Dallas offense? - CBS Sports

In the Week 5 edition of "Thursday Night Football," the Dallas Cowboys play host to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Dallas rebounded last week from its heartbreaking loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Rio de Janeiro the week before, storming back from a double-digit deficit to defeat the Houston Texans with a furious fourth-quarter rally. The Cowboys have arguably the NFL's best offense through the first four weeks of the season, and it could get a lift here with the potential return of guard Tyler Smith. But the Cowboys also have arguably the league's worst defense, and that unit is still dealing with various injuries even after trading for Joey Porter Jr.

Tampa is coming off a dispiriting loss to the Green Bay Packers in the first game of the Jalon Daniels era. The Buccaneers have turned to Daniels in the wake of Baker Mayfield's thumb injury, and the offense sputtered in his first game under center, totaling just 275 yards while Daniels was intercepted twice. The Bucs are now 0-4 after that loss and already in danger of falling out of the playoff picture entirely just a month into the NFL season.

Will Dallas get over.500 for the first time, or will Tampa capture its first win of the season? We'll find out soon enough. Before we break down the matchup, here's a look at how you can watch the game.

Where to watch Cowboys vs. Buccaneers live

- Date: Thursday, Oct. 8 | Time: 8:20 p.m. ET

- Location: AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas)

- Streaming: Amazon Prime

- Follow: CBS Sports App

- Odds: Cowboys -8.5, O/U 47.5 via DraftKings Sportsbook

When the Buccaneers have the ball

The Bucs went fairly run-heavy against the Packers in Daniels' first start, with the undrafted rookie throwing 27 passes while the team totaled 31 rush attempts despite trailing for most of the afternoon. Daniels went 19 of 27 for just 148 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, while also rushing eight times for 55 yards. Six of those runs were scrambles, and he totaled 46 yards on those plays.

The Cowboys have faced mobile quarterbacks three times this year and given up a ton of rushing yards to them. Jaxson Dart ran 11 times for 54 yards, Jayden Daniels ran for 69 yards on seven carries in just one half and Lamar Jackson ran six times for 50 yards.

Dallas does not have a strong pass rush to begin with (the Cowboys are 21st in pressure rate and 29th in sack rate), and the Cowboys have also allowed the highest scramble rate in the NFL while yielding 9.1 yards per scramble, according to Tru Media. Daniels, if he can maintain his composure when he does see pressure (and he was pressured on 42.9% of his dropbacks last week), should have opportunities to take off.

Tampa's offensive line has surprisingly not played all that well this year. The Buccaneers check in 22nd in ESPN's pass-block win rate and 23rd in run-block win rate. The team's running backs (mostly Bucky Irving ) have averaged just 1.07 yards before contact per attempt, indicating that the line isn't getting much push up front. And that's despite the fact that they've run into eight-man boxes at the second-lowest rate in football.

The Cowboys, of course, have gotten clocked on the ground, yielding 4.8 yards per carry to enemy backs. They check in 24th in yards before contact per attempt with 25th in yards after contact, per Tru Media. Irving should have room to run here if the Bucs can get their line in order.

The questions for Tampa's attack center on the passing game, where it's unclear whether Daniels can lead a competent attack. The Cowboys have gotten lit up through the air so far this season. Porter should help on that front, and he can probably follow Emeka Egbuka around the formation here and force Daniels to work the passing game through his other targets, but the Dallas secondary outside of him is eminently burnable right now.

Daniels didn't look like a player who could push the ball downfield with any degree of consistency against a subpar Green Bay defense, though, and there are still questions about whether he'll be able to do it even against this decrepit Cowboys unit.

When the Cowboys have the ball

So far this season, the Cowboys have an offense that is not just one of the best in the league but one of the best in recent memory. Consider this: Dallas has run the fewest drives of any team in the NFL (36), yet still ranks tied for second in points (122), just five behind the league leader (the Buffalo Bills at 127).