The Dallas Cowboys have to be concerned heading into the Saturday night game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 15 of the NFL season. DeMarcus Ware suffered a neck stinger in the loss to Arizona and spent much of the final quarter of the game on the sidelines, as the Cardinals came from behind, to win. He then was in and out of the Giants game, and without him in key moments, Dallas fell again.

Ware missed practice heading into the short week game but should be ready for the Buccaneers’ game.

Ware said that missing a lot of the Giants game, despite the Cowboys losing, was better for him because now he is ready to go. That is good news for the Dallas Cowboys and bad news for Josh Freeman and the Bucs.

On the 2011 season, Ware sits at 15 sacks on the season, tied for second in the NFL. He took the lead two weeks ago but Jared Allen roared back with three sacks in Week 14. Of course, Ware has four double-digit sack games in the year, so don’t count him out.

Don’t look at Ware’s game against the Giants, with his four tackles, two solo, and no sacks for his status this week. There have been four games this season he did not record a sack but he has never gone back-to-back games without a sack this season. The Buccaneers are decent protecting their quarterback, only allowing 24 sacks on the season, but Ware is pretty good as well.

At one point this season, DeMarcus Ware was on pace to break Michael Strahan’s record of 22.5 sacks in a season. However, Ware now needs 7.5 sacks in the final three games, which is not likely. What is possible is Allen’s chance to break the record, needing only five in three games. You can bet Ware wants to keep his name in the race.

Over seven seasons, Ware has never missed a game with an injury. He didn’t miss the Giants game, although he was ineffective. Ware should definitely be ready to make up for it against the Buccaneers.

Author Shawn S. Lealos has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma (2000) and has been a Dallas Cowboys’ fan since he was a child. His favorite players range from Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett to the Triplets of the 90s and he enjoys talking about all Cowboys’ related news, good or bad

Source: dallascowboys.com

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Dec 14, 2011 – The Dallas Cowboys, coming off two straight last second missed field goal losses, come stumbling into Raymond James Stadium in Week 15 looking to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are beyond the stumbling stage, however, as their season continued to spiral last week in Jacksonville in a seven turnover 41-14 loss that extended their losing streak to seven games.

Fighting for their playoff lives, Dallas has lost two games in a row in the most excruciating fashion – losing to Arizona when their own coach iced their kicker, and losing to the Giants after a blown fourth quarter lead and last second missed field goal. The Buccaneers are simply playing for pride at this point. Last week, Josh Freeman returned from a shoulder injury and the Bucs jumped out to a 14-0 lead. But seven turnovers led to 41 unanswered Jacksonville points, highlighted by four Maurice Jones-Drew touchdowns.

The game is scheduled for a Saturday night primetime broadcast on NFL Network, as the college football season closes and cedes the Saturday stage to the NFL. The Saturday night game will be Tampa’s final home game of the 2011 season. Could it be the last time we see Raheem Morris pace the sidelines for the Bucs at Raymond James Stadium?

For more news, discussion, and analysis on the Buccaneers, visit SB Nation’s Buccaneers blog, Bucs Nation. For more on the Cowboys, please visit SB Nation Dallas and Blogging the Boys, SB Nation’s Cowboys blog. 

Read More: Josh Freeman (QB – TAM), Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

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By Rick Stroud, Times Staff Writer

In Print: Sunday, August 7, 2011

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TAMPA — Depth charts usually aren’t worth the paper they are printed on in training camp. But when the Bucs’ list of starters is released Monday, a few names could be etched in stone.

Rookie Mason Foster will be the starter at middle linebacker.

That decision essentially was made when the team made Foster its third-round pick out of Washington.

Former USF standout Tyrone McKenzie and Derrell Smith, an undrafted rookie from Syracuse, are battling to back him up.

The Bucs love Foster’s size (6 feet 1, 240 pounds) and instincts enough to put the responsibility of making all of the defensive calls on his shoulder pads.

“He’s doing well. It’s hard to say the job is his, and you’ve got to go through the bullets,” coach Raheem Morris said of Foster. “You’ve got to go through the games. You’ve got to go out there and prove yourself. But you want to give him an opportunity to win it.

“He is getting some reps with the first group. It’s fun.”

The consensus opinion is the defense will be vanilla with Foster. But that’s not Morris’ flavor.

“With Coach Morris’ personality, I don’t think he would water down anything,” said former Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks, who watched rookie Jamie Duncan step in at middle linebacker in 1999. “I think he would ask Mason, if he earned that spot, to step up.”

Brooks says Foster should take comfort in the fact Morris has had success starting rookies in the past.

“Take the position out of it,” Brooks said. “You’ve had that in this Buccaneers defense the last three years. Some rookies have started and played prominent roles. It shouldn’t be different at his position.”

Other predictions: Jeremy Trueblood will be the starting right tackle over James Lee. You don’t re-sign someone for $10 million over two years to be a backup.

And rookies Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers will be the starting defensive ends.

BLACKOUTS: The organization fired warning shots over the bow of its pirate ship last year about the likelihood of home games being subjected to local television blackouts.

Many fans were put out that such a dire prediction (which came true) would be made before the start of the preseason.

The club is taking a more stealthy approach when it comes to revealing its ticket numbers this year, but it’s reasonable to expect most of the seven regular-season and two preseason games will be blacked out.

If single-game ticket sales that commenced Friday are any indication, there could be two exceptions: the Monday night game on ESPN against the Colts on Oct. 3 and the Saturday night game against the Cowboys on the NFL Network on Dec. 17.

Waiting for discipline: Despite the rhetoric coming from the Bucs, they expect commissioner Roger Goodell to levy harsh punishments to the handful of players who violated the league’s personal conduct policy during the lockout.

That includes CB Aqib Talib, whose trial on charges of assault with a deadly weapon has been moved to March 2012. The hope is Goodell will wait until Talib has his day in court and allow for the presumption of innocence.

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TAMPA, Fla. (AP)—Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie tight end Luke Stocker(notes) will
be sidelined at least two weeks because of a right hip injury.

The fourth-round selection from Tennessee said Saturday that his status is
“week to week.” He jammed the hip during the first day of training camp
Friday.

Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris expects Stocker to be out a minimum of two
weeks.

“It’s the hand you get dealt and I have to play it now,” Stocker said.

The Bucs completed the signing of all their draft picks from this year by
reaching a deal with running back Allen Bradford(notes), who was taken in the sixth
round.

Also, the Tampa Bay players voted unanimously Friday night in favor of union
recertification. Reconstituting the union was a condition to concluding the
collective bargaining agreement that was recently reached.

Once the CBA is fully squared away, veteran free agents who have signed new
contracts in the past few days will be allowed to practice with their teams.
Those players are currently allowed to attend team meetings, work out
individually and watch—but not participate—in practice.

Tackle Jeremy Trueblood(notes) and guard Davin Joseph(notes) were among a group of players
that watched Saturday’s on-field session from the sidelines.

“I don’t think it’s fair to either side,” Trueblood said. “It’s something
you have to deal with.”

Joseph agreed it’s not an ideal situation.

“We’re able to workout at another facility close by, so we’re able to get
some work in,” Joseph said. “But it’s just not the same.”