Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31 Dallas Cowboys 29
Thursday 10 September 2021 at Raymond James Stadium
NBC COMMENTARY CREW Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth
The defense of the Super Bowl got under way on a Thursday
night in front of a sold-out Raymond James Stadium. Tom Brady
had four TD passes but it took a late drive and 36-yard FG from
Ryan Succop with two seconds remaining for the Bucs to come
out on top as Dak Prescott passed for over 400 yards against
an ineffective Tampa defense. The first half was both teams
trading scores on possessions as the NFL season opener was
held in the stadium of the defending champions.
GAME SCORING
TB
5:23-1Q
Godwin 5 pass from Brady (Succop kick)
DAL
1:35-1Q
Lamb 22 pass from Prescott (Zuerlein)
TB
9:48-2Q
Gronkowski 2 pass from Brady (Succop)
DAL
4:20-2Q
Cooper 5 pass from Prescott (kick failed)
DAL
3:16-2Q
Zuerlein FG35
TB
2:38-2Q
Brown 47 pass from Brady (Succop kick)
DAL
9:15-3Q
Zuerlein FG21
TB
2:38-3Q
Gronkowski 11 pass from Brady (Succop)
DAL
0:33-3Q
Cooper 21 pass from Prescott (Zuerlein)
DAL
1:24-4Q
Zuerlein FG48
TB
0:02-4Q
Succop FG36
GAME REPORTS
Rick Stroud reports on the opening game of the 2021 NFL season
Rob Gronkowski shows his football IQ on his first of two scores
Ryan Succop’s son missed the game-winning kick
The defense had to dig deep because of injuries
The game was a ratings success for NBC
Scott Smith’s official game report
Click here for the play-by-play and the NFL gamebook
STARTERS
OFFENSE
DEFENSE
LT
76 Smith
DE
93 Suh
LG
74 Marpet
DT
50 Vea
C
66 Jensen
DE
92 Gholston
RG
65 Cappa
LOLB
90 Pierre-Paul
RT
78 Wirfs
LILB
45 White
TE
87 Gronkowski
RILB
54 David
WR
81 Brown
ROLB
58 Barrett
WR
13 Evans
LB
9 Tryon-Shoyinka
WR
14 Godwin
LCB
24 Davis
QB
12 Brady
RCB
23 Murphy-Bunting
RB
7 Fournette
S
31 Winfield
PLAYED
3 Succop, 8 Pinion, 10 Miller, 18 Johnson, 25 Bernard, 26 Adams, 27
Jones, 30 Delaney, 32 Edwards, 35 Dean, 43 Cockrell, 48 Stuard, 51
Minter, 52 Britt, 56 Nunez-Roches, 72 Wells, 79 O’Connor, 80 Howard,
84 Brate, 85 Mickens, 96 McLendon, 97 Triner, 98 Nelson
DID NOT PLAY
11 Gabbert, 64 Stinnie, 70 Hainsey
INACTIVES
1 Darden, 2 Trask, 21 Vaughn, 33 Whitehead, 39 Cooper, 60 Leverett,
94 Davis
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
BUCS: Fournette 9-32, Jones 4-14, Brown 1-6.
COWBOYS: Elliott 11-33, Pollard 3-14, Prescott 4-13.
PASSING
BUCS: Brady 50-32-379-2-4.
COWBOYS: Prescott 58-42-403-1-3.
RECEIVING
BUCS: Godwin 9-105, Gronkowski 8-90, Brown 5-121, Fournette 5-27,
Evans 3-24, Bernard 2-12.
COWBOYS: Cooper 13-139, Lamb 7-104, Schultz 6-45, Gallup 4-36,
Pollard 4-29, Wilson 3-24, Jarwin 3-20, Elliott 2-6.
INTERCEPTIONS
BUCS: Davis 1-25.
COWBOYS: Lewis 1-66, Diggs 1-0.
KICK RETURNS
BUCS: Mickens 3-92.
COWBOYS: none.
PUNT RETURNS
BUCS: Mickens 2-21.
COWBOYS: Lamb 1-12, Wilson 1-2.
SACKS
BUCS: Barrett 1-12.
COWBOYS: none.
NFL RESULTS - WEEK 1
Tampa Bay 31 Dallas 29
Houston 37 Jacksonville 21
LA Chargers 20 Washington 16
Seattle 28 Indianapolis 16
Carolina 19 NY Jets 14
Cincinnati 27 Minnesota 24
Arizona 38 Tennessee 13
San Francisco 41 Detroit 33
Pittsburgh 22 Buffalo 16
Philadelphia 32 Atlanta 6
Kansas City 33 Cleveland 29
New Orleans 38 Green Bay 3
Denver 27 NY Giants 13
Miami 17 New England 16
LA Rams 34 Chicago 14
Las Vegas 33 Baltimore 27
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
Click on the boxes to view the big plays
Chris Godwin recorded the first Buccaneer touchdown of the season
Tom Brady found Antonio Brown on a deep pass down the sideline
Ryan Succop had the game winner with two seconds remaining
