TAMPA, Fla. — There’s been almost no quit this year in Tom Brady, but if he does decide to retire for good this time, the Bucs’ 31-14 loss to the Cowboys in an NFC wild-card game may not have been a proper send-off for the seven-time Super Bowl winner.
The greatest quarterback of all time wasn’t the best quarterback Monday night.
That distinction belonged to Dak Prescott, who overcame his poor playoff history to throw four touchdown passes and run for another score to advance the Cowboys to Sunday’s NFC division playoff game at the 49ers.
Instead, Brady looked every bit like a 45-year-old player asked to carry a load, struggling through one of the worst playoff performances of his unequaled career.
As it has all season, the Bucs offense got off to another slow start and was down 18-0 at halftime. It could have been worse, but Cowboys place-kicker Brett Maher missed three extra points, finishing 1-for-5 on the night.
Even with center Ryan Jensen returning from injured reserve after missing the regular season with a knee injury, the Bucs couldn’t run the football. They also had trouble protecting Brady from the Cowboys’ pass rush, led by outside linebacker Micah Parsons.
The Bucs defense, meanwhile, never slowed Prescott or the Cowboys offense. Prescott drove the offense like it was on rails, completing long, sustained touchdown marches of 80, 80, 91, 86 and 66 yards.
Prescott’s final TD was a microcosm of the kind of miscommunication the Bucs defense had at times all year. On fourth and 4 from the Bucs’ 18-yard line, the Bucs completely blew coverage on CeeDee Lamb, who was all alone in the end zone.
The trouble started early for Brady. Trailing 6-0 and facing second and goal at the Dallas 5-yard line, Brady double-clutched and threw a pass toward the back of the end zone that was intercepted by safety Jayron Kearse for a touchback. It was his first red-zone interception since joining the Bucs.
That would prove to be the pivotal play of the first half. The Cowboys drove 80 yards in 15 plays, highlighted by Prescott’s 34-yard pass to tight end Jake Ferguson.
The Cowboys decided to go for broke on fourth and goal at the Tampa Bay 1-yard line. Prescott executed a perfect bootleg around the left side for a touchdown. That represented a 13-point swing the Bucs didn’t recover from.
In fact, it was the first time Brady had been shut out in the first half of a playoff game since the Tuck Rule game in the AFC division playoff against the Raiders, his first year as a starter in the 2001 season.
Trailing 24-0, the Bucs got on the board on the final play of the third quarter when Brady connected with Julio Jones on a 30-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion pass to Chris Godwin failed.
Prescott finished the first half 15 of 20 passing for 189 yards with two TD passes and a rushing TD. The Cowboys also held a commanding edge in total yards (246-120). Meanwhile, Brady’s numbers were pretty anemic. He finished the half 11-of-23 for 96 yards and the pick. For the game, he was 35-of-66 for 351 yards, two touchdowns (one with just over two minutes to play) and one interception.
Prescott entered Sunday’s game 1-3 in his postseason career, with a 24-22 win over the Seahawks in the 2018 season before a loss to the Rams in the division round. Last year, the Cowboys were home and favored over the 49ers but mismanaged the final seconds to lose 23-17 without a shot to the end zone on the final play.
He answered a lot of questions Sunday and left Brady to contemplate the biggest one: was this the final game of his career?
