Tampa Bay and Dallas both stumbled to the finish line last season, and this Thursday nighter is still 53 days out — which means the real story right now is what training camp is revealing, not what either team has actually become.
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FRI OCT 9 · 7:15 PM CT
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Buccaneers
Cowboys
Both quarterbacks sat out their preseason openers, and neither absence is anything to worry about. Todd Bowles held Baker Mayfield out of Tampa Bay's preseason win over the Jets to keep him fresh, and Brian Schottenheimer did the same with Dak Prescott ahead of the Cowboys' preseason opener against Seattle. It's standard veteran load management, but it also means the clearest read on either offense right now is coming from the backups and the skill-position battles around them.
Tampa Bay's receiver room has more names banged up than healthy at the moment. Chris Godwin Jr., Jalen McMillan and TE Cade Otton all sat out the preseason win over the Jets, and Emeka Egbuka is nursing a sprained toe — though the Bucs say testing came back stable and they're optimistic he's good to go for the season opener. Dallas has its own camp attrition, with TE Jake Ferguson and WR Ryan Flournoy both out for the preseason opener and OT Tyler Guyton working through a sore elbow.
The bigger structural story in Dallas is the defense. It's been rebuilt around a 3-year, $105.9 million extension for interior lineman Quinnen Williams, and the unit looked sharp in a 17-7 preseason win over Seattle. That's a defense trying to prove it can function without the pass rusher who used to define it, and camp reps against a backup-heavy Seahawks lineup only tells you so much.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Dallas Cowboys
Neither team finished the 2025 season well. Both Tampa Bay and Dallas went 1-4 over their last 5 games, though the Bucs closed it out with a win over Carolina while the Cowboys dropped their finale to the Giants. That stretch is now months old, and each club still has 4 regular-season games on the schedule before this one kicks off, so whatever shape either team is in by Week 5 could look nothing like the roster currently practicing in camp.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
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Fully healthy — no injuries to report
Dallas Cowboys
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Fully healthy — no injuries to report
There's a long runway between now and this one — Tampa Bay opens against Cincinnati and gets Cleveland, Minnesota and Green Bay before this game, while Dallas draws the Giants, Washington, Baltimore and Houston. A lot of that camp uncertainty around Wirfs, Egbuka and the rebuilt Cowboys defense should be resolved one way or another well before the Thursday night lights come on.
