The NFL regular season is one week closer to being wrapped up. These teams clinched a playoff spot in Week 16.
The Dallas Cowboys defeated Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26-24 in a Sunday Night Football thriller, giving Jerry Jones and Cowboys fans something to smile about even as their team got eliminated from playoff contention earlier in the day.
For the Buccaneers, it was a tough loss that came down to a final drive that ended in a fumble.
Let's take a closer look at the prime time game with three takeaways:
Cowboys came to play for Mike McCarthy
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The Dallas Cowboys were officially eliminated from playoff contention before the game even started Sunday night, but they came to play anyway. In doing so, they gave their owner Jerry Jones a clear message: they still have their coach's back.
In an NFL season that has already seen three coaches fired, the Cowboys have stuck with McCarthy as he ends his final year under contract in Dallas. Even with starting QB Dak Prescott out for the year, the Cowboys are 7-8 and have won four of their last five (including a victory against current NFC East leaders Washington Commanders).
It's a comeback that did not seem likely. After Prescott suffered a partially torn hamstring in a Week 9 loss to the Falcons, the Cowboys were 3-5. Their next two games, versus the Eagles and Texans, they were outscored 68-16. However, they have bounced back with Cooper Rush as quarterback, looking like a team that could compete for a playoff spot if they had played this way from the beginning.
NFL
There is no greater example of how McCarthy's players have not given up on him then the team's best player still on the field: CeeDee Lamb.
Lamb finished the game with 105 receiving yards while playing through a shoulder injury that clearly had him in pain. After landing on his hurt shoulder following a big 52-yard pass from Rush, Lamb could be seen crouched and wincing in pain on the sidelines. But just a few plays later he was back out there for another 11-yard gain that put the Cowboys just outside the end zone.
The Cowboys final two games are against the Eagles and Commanders. The two likely playoff teams and division rivals will have their work cut out for them.
If Jerry Jones does not resign McCarthy in the offseason, other teams would be sure to strongly consider scooping the Super Bowl winning coach up.
Jet lag finally hit the Buccaneers
Coming off an impressive win against the Chargers in Los Angeles, defeating Jim Harbaugh's squad 40-17, defying what many fans and bettors thought would be a jet lagged performance for the team from Florida.
But perhaps it was this week in Dallas that the jet lag finally caught up to them.
Tampa found themselves down early, facing a 10-0 with more than two minutes left in the first quarter.
It was a deficit from which they never recovered.
The Bucs got themselves back in the game, but remained down 27-16 with around seven minutes. In need of two scores, Mayfield tried to move the ball down the field quickly. First, nailing down wide received Trey Palmer to 27 yards. But two plays later, Mayfield went for the end zone and instead got picked off.
Tampa's defense made a quick stop against Dallas, forcing a punt after three plays for eight yards and giving Baker the ball back and giving him a second chance.
Mayfield brought his team down the field 87 yards in just over two minutes, securing a touchdown and a field goal away from victory.
The defense stopped Dallas again on three plays, only for Rachaad White to give the ball back with a fumble on the first play of their final drive.
On Tampa's 26-yard line, Mayfield avoids a sack and drags a defender along with him as he pushes forward to send a shovel pass to White, who gets the ball punched out, clinching the win for Dallas.
The good news for them is their final two games are at home versus the bottom of their division. First, the Carolina Panthers (4-11), and then the New Orleans Saints (5-9), come to town.
The bad news is neither of those two teams have been playing bad football of late, with the Panthers in particular seemingly getting it together under QB Bryce Young.
The Panthers with their overtime victory over the Arizona Cardinals this week knocked Kyler Murray's squad out of playoff contention, and the Panthers may be looking to continue their role as spoiler.
Loss gives Falcons new life
The Buccaneers loss leaves them at 8-7, the same record as the Atlanta Falcons, who just switched starting QBs from Kirk Cousins to rookie Michael Penix, Jr.
Penix went 18-of-27 passing with 202 yards and one interception. Penix, with a lot of help from running back Bijan Robinson (who ran for 94 yards and two touchdowns), defeated the 2-13 New York Giants by a score of 34-7. Next up, the Falcons take on the Commanders (10-5) on Sunday Night Football and then those pesky Panthers.
Having defeated Tampa twice this season, the Falcons hold the tiebreaker.
The NFC South is now the Falcons' to lose.
