Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson said after the team’s Week 4 loss, which dropped the Bucs to 0-4, that it won’t be a challenge to keep the locker room together “because the season isn’t over.”

If it’s not, it’s certainly close. 

Tampa had high expectations for the season. The Bucs were overwhelming favorites to reclaim their spot atop the NFC South division and return to the playoffs after last season’s 2-7 collapse down the stretch left them watching the postseason from home. 

Unfortunately, the Bucs have fallen flat out of the gate. They haven’t won a game and have looked like one of the NFL’s worst teams. 

Head coach Todd Bowles’ seat has gone from “hot” to “searing.” The team’s issues are seemingly endless, and the Bucs have shown nothing to inspire confidence that a turnaround is on the way. 

Starting quarterback Baker Mayfield missed the first game of his Bucs tenure in Week 4 with a dislocated thumb, and he will miss at least one more. 

Even with Mayfield for the first three games, Tampa’s offense has been a huge disappointment, struggling with turnovers and being unable to finish drives with touchdowns. 

Tampa’s pass rush has also underwhelmed, despite several high-profile additions to the defensive front seven in both free agency and the draft. 

This is not what the organization was expecting this season, especially after inking Mayfield and star DT Vita Vea to huge contract extensions right before the season began 

Those deals have not paid off and are looking like mistakes for a team that may undergo some type of rebuild after the season. 

If the Bucs want to prove the season isn’t over, as Robinson claims, they must find a way to go on the road and beat the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football. 

Doing so will be difficult. The Cowboys are 2-2 and boast one of the league’s most explosive offenses. 

Tampa will have to play much better than it has all season to have a chance against Dallas. Bowles called the Cowboys “the most physically gifted team” his team will face all year. 

Bowles spoke to the media on Monday about how Dallas has loads of talent everywhere on the roster. The embattled coach also noted that the Cowboys are blessed with not only great talent but great size as well, and talked about the huge challenge they present.

"I mean, size-wise, they're huge. They'll probably be the most physically gifted team we'll face this year. [They've] definitely got playmakers on the outside. They're very good on the defensive front, very big on the offensive side of the ball. [They have] three good tight ends, they've got an All-Pro quarterback. I mean, they've got two very good corners that can play press man, they've got an active linebacking corps. So, it's going to be a tough challenge for us from a talent standpoint. They're very gifted."

Bowles is right. Dallas is an incredibly talented team. 

However, the Cowboys have been very talented for years, but like the Bucs, have had a hard time playing up to their talent level for the last few seasons.

Will Tampa be able to take advantage of the Cowboys' inconsistency? If the Bucs want to keep their season alive, even if it is only on life support, they will have to find any way they can to pull out a victory.

If they can't find a way to match Dallas physically, the Bucs don't stand a chance.