ARLINGTON, Texas — Tom Brady may not be ready for the rocking chair but he could play from one.
That’s how committed the Bucs are to protecting their 45-year-old quarterback.
He is going to hand the football to Leonard Fournette, who powered through the Cowboys for 127 yards on 21 carries Sunday night.
He is going to rely on the Bucs’ deep defense, which allowed only a field goal on the first possession of the game before turning Dak Prescott into a below-average quarterback.
And when called upon, he is going deliver passes to Mike Evans and Julio Jones, who made acrobatic catches.
He has a defensive-minded head coach who isn’t concerned with needing to change lightbulbs in the scoreboard.
Brady has exactly the team he needs and the plan he wants.
That was the takeaway from the Bucs’ 19-3 win over the Cowboys.
If you want to know the difference in a Todd Bowles-coached team, you could make an easy argument that he is more committed to the run.
Sure, offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich is still calling the plays, but there was a decidedly more conservative approach to getting the ground game going.
The Bucs drove the ball to the 26-, 20-, 18-, 11- and 29-yard line of the Cowboys to start the game. They came away with five field-goal attempts by Ryan Succop, who made four to give his team a 12-3 halftime lead.
More glaring, Brady never attempted one pass into the end zone during that stretch.
Brady was 11-of-16 for 160 yards in the first half, but that included the two-minute drill. He finished 18-of-27 for 212 yards, a TD and one interception.
Maybe it was an attempt to keep Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons from wrecking the game. He had two sacks in the first half against the Bucs’ rebuilt offensive line.
There were other hiccups. On third and 1 from the Dallas 25-yard line, right guard Shaq Mason allowed DeMarcus Lawrence to swim past him and drop Fournette for a 1-yard loss. That forced the Bucs to settle for Succop’s 44-yard field goal to tie the score at 3.
A good pass defense by the Bucs, with a tipped ball by Lavonte David, got the defense off the field.
Brady completed his first four passes to start the game. But he seemed content to let Fournette do most of the heavy lifting.
Brady was sacked twice by Parsons, both times on third down. On the second one Parsons beat Josh Wells, who was in for Donovan Smith (elbow injury in the first half).
Still, the Bucs had to be pleased with their rebuilt offensive line.
The Bucs defense dominated the game. After the Cowboys controlled the football for 14 plays to start the game, a drive capped by Brett Maher’s 51-yard field goal, they didn’t give the Dallas receivers much room to operate.
Prescott finished the first half 6 of 16 passing for 53 yards with an interception by Antoine Winfield Jr.
Devin White sacked Prescott to end the Cowboys’ first attempt in the third quarter. By the time the Bucs forced Prescott to turn the ball over on downs to start the fourth quarter after failing to convert fourth and 2, Prescott was only 11 of 23 passing for 102 yards with an interception for a passer rating of 42.3.
Fournette, who signed a three-year, $21 million contract in the offseason, took over in the second half. He began with three carries for 38 yards, running behind center Robert Hainsey on a toss play.
That set up a one-handed catch by Evans over Cowboys Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs for a touchdown.
