The Cowboys are one of the hotter teams in the NFL right now, winning three of four games. But the Bucs are even hotter, winners of four straight games.
More importantly, Tampa Bay is in first place of the NFC South, while the Cowboys are desperately holding on to playoff hopes.
Here are the 10 big storylines for the week, with five for the Bucs and five for the Cowboys.
Buccaneers
The Bucs are at the point of their rollercoaster season that is at the top, and they certainly want to stay there for a while. Tampa Bay has won four straight games, sitting at first place in the NFC South at 8-6. The Bucs have defeated the Lions and Eagles earlier in the year before a slide that had them far outside the playoff picture. Now, they're trying to stay in position to host a playoff game as a division winner.
Two weeks ago, the Cowboys played the NFL's leading passer in completions, yards and TD passes in Joe Burrow. This week, Baker Mayfield comes to town ranked in the Top 4 in all of those categories as well. Mayfield is having a stellar campaign for the Bucs, especially during this four-game winning streak. Mayfield ranks third in the NFL in passing touchdowns with 32, just two Burrow (36) and Lamar Jackson (34).
While Mayfield has been putting up big numbers for the Bucs, the stats aren't completely positive for his team. Mayfield ranks second in the NFL in total fumbles with 12. He's also second in the NFL in interceptions with 14 and has also been sacked 33 times.
The Bucs have welcomed back Mike Evans, who despite missing three games with an injury, still ranks fourth in the NFL this year with nine TD catches. Evans is the only player in NFL history to have 10 straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons to begin a career. But after exploding for 159 yards last week, Evans has 749 yards with three games to play and still has work to do to extend that streak this season.
Running back Bucky Irving has similar stats as Rico Dowdle, both getting close to a 1,000-yard rushing season. Irving leads all NFL rookies with 852 rushing yards with three games to play and also has six rushing touchdowns to lead the team.
Cowboys
The Cowboys are probably in the "too little, too late" mode of their season. Technically, they're still alive in the playoff picture but as far on the outside as you can be, sitting at 6-8. Still, the performances have been better as the Cowboys have won three of the last four games, including a 30-14 win over the Panthers last Sunday.
The Cowboys have been rather stellar on the road this year, owning a 4-2 record away from AT&T Stadium. But for the games in Arlington, it's been anything but a home-field advantage. The Cowboys will look for their second home win of the season against Tampa. Dallas is 1-6 at home this year, with two chances to improve that mark, starting with Sunday night's game vs. Tampa Bay.
The running game has seen a huge improvement over the last month with Rico Dowdle setting a career-high in rushing in three straight games. He had 112 against the Giants on Thanksgiving, followed by 131 against the Bengals and then 149 against the Panthers, the most by any Cowboys running back since 2019. Dowdle now has 880 rushing yards and is closing in on the chance to become the first undrafted player in team history with 1,000 rushing yards in a season.
Every week, it seems like a new player has joined a star-studded group on the season-ending injury report. This time it's Trevon Diggs, who was downgraded to out late last week with a knee injury. As it turned out, Diggs is now needing another surgery on his left knee, the same knee that required ACL surgery last season. Diggs joins players such as Dak Prescott, Zack Martin, DeMarvion Overshown and potentially DeMarcus Lawrence, who hasn't played since Week 4, as high-profile players on IR.
One player who missed four games at one point this year as well is Micah Parsons, but he not only returned to action last month, the Cowboys defense has benefitted in a major way. Parsons had another multi-sack game last week, upping his sack total to 8.5. And since he's returned from injury, the Cowboys lead the NFL in sacks with 24
