The Dallas Cowboys beat the Carolina Panthers with relative ease last week. In many ways, it was arguably their most dominant performance of the season. From an offensive perspective, a big reason for this was how both CeeDee Lamb and Rico Dowdle performed. Both Lamb and Dowdle made major contributions that helped propel Dallas to the top.

You probably won’t be shocked to learn that both Lamb and Dowdle exceeded their projections from NFL Pro that we talked about last week.

• Projected Cooper Rush at Carolina: 232.3 pass yards, 1.1 pass TD, 0.7 INT, 5.1 rush yards, 0.1 rush TD
  Actually: 214 yards, 3 TDs, 5 rush yards
• Projected Rico Dowdle at Carolina: 62.5 rush yards, 0.4 rush TD, 2.6 rec, 18.5 rec TD, 0.1 rec TD
  Actually: 149 rush yards
• Projected CeeDee Lamb at Carolina: 6.4 rec, 69 yards, 0.4 TD
  Actual: 9 rec, 116 yards, 1 TD
• Projected Jalen Tolbert at Carolina: 2.6 rec, 31 yards, 0.2 TD
  Actual: 1 rec, 11 yards, 1 TD
• Projected Jake Ferguson at Carolina: 4.2 rec, 43.8 yards, 0.3 TD
  Actual: 2 rec, 23 yards

Cooper Rush also significantly exceeded his projected numbers in passing touchdowns, and Jalen Tolbert was strong in that regard as well. However, there is no question that the strong narrations came through Lamb and Dowdle.

But what is NFL Pro asking of the Cowboys players this week? Can it be more?

This is how NFL Pro sees the game on Sunday evening against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

As mentioned, things have picked up a bit for both Lamb and Dowdle. Interestingly, Dowdle is becoming even more popular as a receiver.

On the other hand, the projections for Tampa’s ground game are a little more modest than we originally thought, but to be fair, they are based specifically on Bucky Irving and don’t take into account Rachaad White and the work he will ultimately put in.

It’s obvious that Tampa will control things on the ground throughout the game. In fact, the NFL pro model has given the Bucs an advantage in many ways.

Grid view

The Cowboys are underdogs, and although they have won three of their last four games, the Buccaneers team they face is undefeated over the same period. It certainly won’t be the hardest game they’ve ever played, but it certainly won’t be easy.