Coming off a thrilling road win over the Houston Texans, the Dallas Cowboys had a prime-time game at home against the 0-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who were starting an undrafted rookie free agent at quarterback with starter Baker Mayfield on the mend. What could go wrong for the Cowboys? Well, everything, actually.
After slumping into a 10-7 halftime lead, Dallas was outscored by Tampa Bay in the second half, 17-6, losing 24-16. The Cowboys trailed by as many as 14 points with 8:32 remaining in the fourth quarter, and were on the verge of going down three scores at said point before making a fourth down stand at the 1-yard line, and quarterback Dak Prescott threw two interceptions. All the main characters were going through it after the loss, which dropped Dallas to 2-3.
"Extraordinarily disappointed," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in a postgame press conference on Thursday night, per 105.3 The FAN. "They [the Buccaneers] were very physical. I thought both their fronts [were good].
I was really surprised at how hell they ran the ball and how they ran it between the tackles. That was surprising. We thought if they were going to run it, they'd do it outside.
We thought we'd put it on the quarterback's shoulders. Their staff, their quarterback and all their players got a great victory here tonight, and it was a tough loss for us." Jones expressed that the Cowboys "missed a great opportunity to build something." Tampa Bay possessed the ball for a whopping 39:21 and had two possessions that extended beyond eight minutes, including a 10:58 touchdown drive the first time it touched the ball. Running back Bucky Irving rushed for 165 yards and one touchdown on 7.9 yards per carry, with the Buccaneers collectively rushing for 241 yards and two scores on 6.2 yards per carry.
In what was just his second NFL start, quarterback Jalon Daniels threw for 189 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions, while posting a 110.3 passer rating and completing 76.0% of his passes (19 of 25). Under new and first-time defensive coordinator Christian Parker, the Cowboys' defense remains among the worst in the sport. Dallas is surrendering the most rushing yards in the NFL (168.4 per game), while being 31st in opponent total yards (395.4 per game), 26th in opponent points (27.2 per game), tied for 24th in sacks (six) and 20th outright in opponent passing yards (227.0 per game).
"It's a loss we're definitely supposed to have [are supposed to win]," Prescott said in his postgame press conference. "To use the word ‘embarrassing,’ though, is tough. I feel like I'm discrediting the NFL if I use that word, and particularly the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a great Todd Bowles coach and defensive coached team.
He's been a winning coach for a long time, whether he's been a head coach or a defensive coordinator. The plan and what they did tonight is the reason for that. To say ‘embarrassing,’ I think that would be discrediting them, but we're definitely supposed to win this game.
This is a game that we were supposed to have on paper or whichever way you want to look at it. "And I think Schotty [Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer] said it best in the locker room, in this league you've got to win the games you're supposed to win, and when a winless team comes into your home stadium on a Thursday night prime-time game, yeah, we're supposed to win that. It sucks and right up there close to embarrassing, but I don't know if I would say that." Prescott finished the night with 316 passing yards, one passing touchdown, two interceptions and a 69.1 passer rating, while completing 57.1% of his passes (24 of 42).
Star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb had two catches for nine yards. Meanwhile, Dallas rushed for just 50 yards and a score on 3.8 yards per carry. Through five games, Prescott, a four-time Pro Bowler, has totaled 1,381 passing yards, nine passing touchdowns, three interceptions and a 97.2 passer rating, while completing 67.2% of his passes.
Prescott was actually pressed before he even got to the podium, as a video got public of somebody in the tunnel saying "embarrassing" to the Cowboys quarterback, who looked back at the person who made the remark. "We believe in what we're doing," Schottenheimer said after the game. "We believe that we have good players and coaches.
We believe the solution is in this room, and we're going to get back to work." The head coach also expressed that the video of Prescott being told his play was "embarrassing" by somebody in the Cowboys' own building is "motivating." Next up for the Cowboys is a road matchup against the Green Bay Packers on Oct. 18.
