Buccaneers vs. Cowboys 2016 live stream: How to watch ‘Sunday Night Football’ online

Can the Bucs keep their hot streak going against a Cowboys team showing signs of vulnerability?

Dec 18, 2016, 11:00 PM UTC

NFL: New Orleans Saints at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are on a roll, having won five straight games to propel themselves into the playoff picture. They’ll face one of their biggest tests yet when they travel to AT&T Stadium to face the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football. As always, you can catch the game on NBC and online at NBC Sports Live.

The Bucs are 8-5 and enter Week 15 holding the No. 6 seed in the NFC playoff race. They also came into the week tied with the Atlanta Falcons for first place in the NFC South, which is quite the turnaround after starting the year 1-3. They beat the Kansas City Chiefs on the road, dominated the Seattle Seahawks at home, and handled the New Orleans Saints during this win streak.

What might be most surprising about this run is that the Bucs aren’t winning because of Jameis Winston. He’s been pretty good in his second year but has been hurt by a lack of weapons outside of Mike Evans. The running game is still struggling even with Doug Martin back. It’s not the dynamic offense we’ve come to expect.

In fact, the defense is the real story in Tampa. The Bucs have allowed 20 points just once in the past five games, completely shutting down high-profile quarterbacks such as Russell Wilson and Drew Brees. Defensive coordinator Mike Smith is overseeing an aggressive unit that’s full of talent in Gerald McCoy, Lavonte David, Noah Spence, and Vernon Hargreaves.

With the Bucs’ defense playing so well, that could spell trouble for Dak Prescott and company. The Cowboys’ rookie quarterback struggled badly against the New York Giants last week, completing just 17 of 37 passes for 165 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions, as the Cowboys dropped just their second game of the year.

Naturally, Prescott’s troubles have reopened the debate as to whether the Cowboys should go back to Tony Romo under center. Head coach Jason Garrett confirmed that Prescott will remain the starter, but it’ll be interesting to see what Dallas does if Prescott continues hitting the rookie wall with the playoffs approaching.

The 11-2 Cowboys already clinched a playoff spot and can wrap up the NFC East with a win and a Giants loss, but New York’s regular season sweep hangs over their heads. The Giants are just two games behind and own the head-to-head tiebreaker, so if the Cowboys don’t get back to their winning ways in a hurry, the No. 1 overall seed won’t be a guarantee.

Of course, it helps when they still have Ezekiel Elliott, who continues to make his MVP case. Elliott was one of the few bright spots on offense last week, rushing for 107 yards on 24 carries. Consistently pushing piles and exploding into the second level, Elliott can do it all from the backfield. He leads the league with 1,392 rushing yards and has 13 touchdowns on the year. For the Cowboys to get back in the win column, they’ll need to keep feeding him the ball.