The Dallas Cowboys fell 24-16 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, dropping to 2-3 after a turnover-filled home loss to a previously winless team.
Video circulated Friday by a KDFW Fox 4 reporter, showing a man inside the stadium calling the loss “embarrassing” as quarterback Dak Prescott walked toward the locker room, prompting a brief exchange between the two.
The Buccaneers improved to 1-4 behind undrafted rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels and running back Bucky Irving. The loss came four days after Dallas’ 34-30 victory over the Houston Texans, which The Dallas Express covered on October 4.
Thursday Night Result
Tampa Bay erased a 10-7 halftime deficit by scoring 17 unanswered points in the third quarter.
Irving rushed for a career-high 165 yards on 21 carries, including a 72-yard run on the first offensive play of the second half. Emeka Egbuka followed with a 14-yard touchdown run to put Tampa Bay ahead for good.
Irving also scored on a 5-yard reception and a 1-yard run. Tampa Bay finished with 241 rushing yards compared with 50 for Dallas, DallasCowboys.com reported.
Daniels made his second career start in place of Baker Mayfield, who remains sidelined with a dislocated right thumb. Daniels completed 19 of 25 passes for 189 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions as Tampa Bay committed no turnovers. The Buccaneers confirmed the victory marked Daniels’ first NFL win.
Prescott completed 24 of 42 passes for 316 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Both interceptions came after catchable passes deflected off Dallas receivers, DallasCowboys.com reported.
George Pickens caught nine passes for 130 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown during a 99-yard fourth-quarter drive. Javonte Williams added a rushing touchdown.
Dallas lost the ball three times in the second half. In addition to Prescott’s interceptions, KaVontae Turpin lost a fumble on a kickoff return.
The Cowboys also lost CeeDee Lamb to a quadriceps injury in the fourth quarter. Lamb finished with two receptions for 9 yards.
Tunnel Comment Draws Attention
A video circulating Friday showed a man saying “Embarrassing” as Prescott walked through the stadium toward the Cowboys’ locker room.
Prescott looked toward the man before continuing down the hallway. NBC Sports published video of Prescott telling a Cowboys employee, “Tough guy. Get his ass out of here.”
DallasCowboys.com described the man as “a driver for a contracted car service.” NBC Sports separately reported that it was told the man worked as a driver for a third-party contractor.
Prescott Responds
Prescott addressed the exchange during his postgame media availability.
“When he said it I just happened to look at him, and at that point he looked away, didn’t look, and when I turned my head back, he said something else,” Prescott said, per NBC Sports. “So that’s the part that, just as a man or a person, feel free to speak your mind. Just speak it. Don’t coward away from the reaction that you’re going to get. If you’re saying it’s embarrassing, say it’s embarrassing. If you’re saying it to me, say it to me. Don’t go back on it. That’s all it was. I hate that it’s even being talked about, to be honest with you.”
“So, if you’re saying it’s embarrassing, say it’s embarrassing. If you’re saying it to me, then say it to me, you know what I mean? Don’t go back on it. So that’s all that was, and I hate that it’s even being talked about, to be honest with you.”
DallasCowboys.com published Prescott’s remarks from the postgame interview.
Prescott stopped short of personally calling the loss embarrassing, saying doing so could discredit Tampa Bay’s performance.
“But, we were definitely supposed to win this game, that we’re supposed to have on paper or whichever way you want to look at it,” Prescott said. “I think Schotty said it best in the locker room, in this league, you’ve got to win the games you’re supposed to win. When a winless team comes into your home stadium on a Thursday night primetime game, yeah, we’re supposed to win that.”
Jones Calls Loss Disappointing
Tampa Bay finished with 419 total yards, including 241 rushing yards, DallasCowboys.com reported.
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones expressed disappointment with the loss and surprise at Tampa Bay’s success running between the tackles.
“Extraordinarily, extraordinarily disappointed,” Jones said. “You really do need to get it done when it’s there to take. They basically were very physical. I thought both their fronts, was really surprised at how well they ran the ball, how they ran it between the tackles. That was surprising.”
“Boy, I’ve been so disappointed before with losses, but this was disappointing,” Jones added.
DallasCowboys.com published Jones’ postgame remarks Friday.
What Comes Next
Dallas will have 10 days between games before traveling to Lambeau Field to face the Green Bay Packers on October 18. The Cowboys’ official schedule lists kickoff for 7:20 p.m. CDT.
Tampa Bay will host the Pittsburgh Steelers on October 18 after earning its first victory of the season.
