The Dallas Cowboys are back in the win column and just one more victory away from reaching .500 on the year. They pulled out a gutsy win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers despite being eliminated from the playoffs earlier in the day, and the spirited performance was encouraging, to say the least. Let’s hand out some grades.

Quarterback

This may have been Cooper Rush’s best game ever. The Cowboys knew they’d need to throw the ball more against an elite run defense, and Rush delivered in spades. He hit on 74.3% of his passes and finished with 292 passing yards and a touchdown.

Crucially, Rush tested the Buccaneers deep. Coming into this game, Rush had one of the lowest rates in the league of pass attempts that traveled beyond 10 yards downfield. In this game, he connected on five of his seven attempts, with one of them being a touchdown. Rush did exactly what he needed to do in this game to beat a really talented Buccaneers defense.

Grade: A+

Running backs

Recognizing that the Buccaneers have one of the top run defenses in the league, Dallas did not come into this game trying to run the ball like they have in recent weeks. Unsurprisingly, Rico Dowdle had his 100+ yards rushing streak snapped. In fact, Dowdle averaged just 1.8 yards on the night.

Of course, the Cowboys were also using the run game primarily to keep the defense honest, preventing them from simply pinning their ears back and rushing the passer. To that end, it worked, so it’s hard to ding these running backs all that much in this one.

Grade: B-

Pass catchers

CeeDee Lamb. Need I say more? The receiver continues to stack elite performances, and he had several jaw dropping catches in this one while fighting through excruciating shoulder pain. His toughness has marked an important moment of growth for Lamb this season.

Beyond the star, Dallas got some great contributions in the passing game. Jalen Tolbert had another impressive touchdown catch, and nearly hauled in a tough sideline catch right before halftime. Brandin Cooks and Jake Ferguson had big plays in big moments too. This group was on their A game in this one.

Grade: A+

Offensive line

The poor results in the run game were at least partially due to the offensive line not creating enough room to run, but again, this was against an elite run defense. As mentioned, the run game was designed in this game to keep the pass rush at bay somewhat, and it worked.

Cooper Rush was pressured on just 19.4% of his dropbacks despite having the third-most dropbacks of the year. Tampa Bay has had a lower pressure rate in just two other games this season. Only one offensive lineman – Brock Hoffman – surrendered multiple pressures and Rush was sacked just once. All in all, this was a best case scenario performance for such a banged up line.

Grade: A-

Run defense

The Buccaneers entered this game with one of the more efficient running games in football – only the Ravens averaged more yards per carry – and they had a terrific tandem of Rachaad White and Bucky Irving. Oddly, White only saw three carries all game, tallying just 10 yards.

Irving, though, carried the load for Tampa Bay. He hit 68 yards on 16 carries, a solid outing for the rookie. Nearly half of the Buccaneers’ rushing output came from quarterback scrambles and a jet sweep play that sprung loose. This was probably one of Dallas’ best games against the run this year, but it’s an admittedly low bar.

Grade: B

Pass rush

This game was shaping up to be a fascinating matchup between Baker Mayfield and Mike Zimmer. Dallas has hit their stride on defense largely because of their pass rush, but Mayfield was coming in as one of the best passers against pressure this year.

It wasn’t a decisive win, but Zimmer got the better of Mayfield in this battle. Mayfield was pressured on 34% of his dropbacks – third-most he’s seen this season – and it got to him. Mayfield was sacked four times and had two turnover-worthy plays, including a fumble that Dallas failed to recover. Mayfield got some shots off too, but this was easily one of his worst games against pressure in what’s been a really great year for the quarterback.

Grade: A+

Pass coverage

Mike Evans was largely held in check, snagging just five passes for 69 yards, but Mayfield was able to find other guys throughout the night. Rookie Jalen McMillan and backup tight end Payne Durham had several big catches to move the chains. Mayfield’s final touchdown pass came on a busted coverage assignment.

That said, Dallas didn’t really get beat deep . Mayfield hit on just two of his six passes that went 20+ yards downfield, and one of those attempts was beautifully picked off by Jourdan Lewis in the endzone. Mayfield was still able to move the ball, but this secondary made enough stops to keep him from lighting up the scoreboard.

Grade: B+

Special teams

What does it say about the Cowboys special teams that this game felt just okay? Brandon Aubrey was perfect, hitting multiple 50+ yard field goals, and Bryan Anger had several booming punts, including two that were downed inside the 20.

But the return game didn’t make any big plays – KaVontae Turpin only returned two punts for 20 yards and didn’t get to return a kickoff – and there weren’t any splash plays elsewhere. That’s a normal, solid game for most teams, but for the Cowboys it feels a bit anticlimactic.

Grade: A

Coaching

This may very well have been Mike McCarthy’s best game as the Cowboys head coach. His team was eliminated from the playoffs a few hours before kickoff, but they played like a team that had everything left to play for. McCarthy’s offensive game plan was also brilliant, giving Rush easy throws against the Tampa Bay secondary and never putting him in too much jeopardy.

Mike Zimmer was even better. He didn’t let Mike Evans take over the game, the rushing attack didn’t explode, and Mayfield was notably off his game when Zimmer’s third down pressure calls came in. If last week’s win didn’t impress anyone, doing this against a Buccaneers team that came in on a four-game win streak should offer confidence in this coaching staff.

Grade: A+