The 2021/22 National Football League (NFL) kickoff game is only six days away (September 9) where the defending champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers will welcome the Dallas Cowboys into Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida (site of their Super Bowl victory last February).

Fittingly, the Buccaneers enter the game as firm JustBet favourites at odds of 1.29 ahead of their visiting opponents at 3.85 (odds are subject to change). With veteran quarterback (QB) Tom Brady appearing ready for action in his second year in Tampa Bay and with questions surrounding the readiness of QB Dak Prescott in Dallas, the bookmakers have very little recourse but to skew the odds in Tampa Bay’s direction.

Brady finished his preseason with a pair of 90-plus-yard touchdown drives last Saturday (August 28) against the Houston Texans while Prescott hasn’t taken a live snap since suffering a gruesome, season-ending ankle injury in Week 5 last year (October 11) against the New York Giants. He was enjoying a dazzling season prior to the injury, racking up 371.2 yards per game and nine touchdowns to start the year however, it is questionable if he will be able to replicate that this time around.

The Buccaneers wrapped up their three-game preseason in Houston on Saturday night with a 23-16 victory that included a dominant effort by the team’s starting roster on both sides of the ball. The other two games against the Cincinnati Bengals (19-14) and Tennessee Titans (34-3) resulted in losses but those were mostly played by athletes aspiring for a spot on the roster.

The Prescott-less Cowboys fared no better in their disappointing preseason campaign with defeats in each of their four outings (including the Hall of Fame game). They lost 3-16 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 16-19 to the Arizona Cardinals, 20-14 to the Houston Texas and 34-14 to Jacksonville Jaguars. This is following a dismal 6-10 record last season and they have missed the NFL play-offs in the past two consecutive seasons, while the Buccaneers finished the 2020/21 season with an 11-5 record and went on to decimate the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV.

Of course, preseason games do not provide a true yardstick with which to measure teams and the Cowboys are optimistic about Prescott’s return to the team for the season’s curtain raiser, to be the difference-maker. Conversely, history does not paint a clear picture with which to accurately predict an outcome as the Cowboys are 7-4 all-time against the Buccaneers.

These two teams do not meet very often, the last time being December 2018 where the Cowboys won 27-20 and Dallas has also won seven of the last eight meetings, but that was before the greatest QB in NFL-history (Brady) came to town. Even at the age of 43, and at a time when the pocket-passer is going out of style, Brady still continues to maintain his game at very high efficiency (and accuracy).

He is still armed with the offensive prowess of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown, Rob Gronkowski and Leonard Fournette so winning should only be questioned in the strength of Tampa Bay’s defense to hold off Prescott and company — whose formidable targets include Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup. And while the former NFL-rushing champion Ezekiel Elliott is coming off a career-low 979 rushing yards in 2020, he remains one of the NFL’s premier running backs and should provide an early test for the league’s top-ranked rushing defence over the past two years.

Bearing in mind that the Cowboy’s defence has also been very stout for quite some time, they should likewise provide daunting resistance to the Tampa Bay offense. The Dallas defence was led last year by linebacker Jaylon Smith, but they needed reinforcements after allowing 29.6 points per game last season. The Cowboys are hoping for a return-to-form from former Pro Bowler Leighton Vander Esch, and he has been given a new running mate in first-round draft pick Micah Parsons.

The Dallas secondary also got an injection of talent in the off-season, with cornerbacks Kelvin Joseph and Nahshon Wright arriving in the draft and safety Damontae Kazee coming over in free agency from the Atlanta Falcons. Eighth-year veteran defensive lineman DeMarcus Lawrence registered 6.5 sacks last year and should see a better outing this year with the third-round draft pick Osa Odighizuwa coming in to help a rush defense that ranked second to last in 2020, giving up 158.3 yards per game and nearly five yards per carry.

The NFL’s opening game will feature some of the best talent in the NFL on both sidelines, in a venue where the Buccaneers made history last February by being the first team to win the Super Bowl in their home stadium. The matchup with the Cowboys will begin the Buccaneers’ chase of another piece of league history, as they try to become the first team to repeat as Super Bowl champions since the 2003/04 New England Patriots (with Brady at the helm) – Are you ready for some football?

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Super Bowl LVI ChampionKansas City Chiefs 5.40

Team Odds

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7.20

Buffalo Bills 12.00

Green Bay Packers 12.00

Baltimore Ravens 13.00

Los Angeles Rams 13.00

San Francisco 49ers 3.00

Cleveland Browns 15.00

Seattle Seahawks 24.00

Tennessee Titans 25.00

*Only Top 10 odds shown (see

website for full list)