Cowboys fall to Tampa Bay

By Elwyn Henderson

The 2-2 Dallas Cowboys, fresh off their 34-30 victory four days earlier on Sunday in Houston against the 0-4 Texans returned to AT&T Stadium in Arlington Thursday to entertain the
0-4Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Tampa Bay won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. Chase McLaughlin kicked the ball away and KaVontae Turpin retuned the ball up to the 30 and Dak Prescott led the offense on the field for their first possession of the game.

Prescott moved the team down the field and the drive ended with a 1-play TD run with 10:51 left in the first quarter Brandon Aubrey added the PAT and Dallas took a quick 7-0 lead. The drive was 9 plays, 74 yards and took 4:09.

Aubrey’s kickoff after the score was returned to the 27 where Jalon Daniels came out at quarterback in place of starter Baker Mayfield who has been sidelined due to a thumb dislocation in Week 2.

Daniels led his team down the field on an amazing TD drive, the longest Tampa Bay drive since 2007. The score came on a 5 yard TD pass from Daniels to Bucky Irving with 14:53 left in the first half. The drive was 15 plays, 73 yards and took a whopping 10:58 off the clock. The point after by McLaughlin was good and the game was tied 7-7.

The ensuing kickoff return by Turpin was returned up to the 32 and Dallas went to work on offense again. Unfortunately, it was a quick three-and-out and Bryan Anger came in and laid a beautiful kick out of bounds at the Bucs 3.

The Cowboys defense had a good series on the possession and forced a three-and-out of their own. After a Riley Dixon punt and holding by the Cowboys after the kick the Cowboys set up shop for their next possession at their 41. Once again, it was a three-and-out and after an Anger punt the visitors got the ball back at their 10.

Daniels led his charges down the field and McLaughlin came in and booted a 61-yard field goal that would have given the Bucs the lead but they were called for delay of game. As a result, they punted the ball back to the Cowboys and Prescott brought his unit back out at the 13, hoping to find a way to take the lead with 3:40 left in the first half.

The team was unable to get a drive going and had to punt the ball back to Tampa Bay. The ball was returned up to the Bucs 48 where Daniels went back on the offensive. The defense forced another three-and-out and after a Dixon punt Prescott brought the offense back out at their 13 with 1:52 left in the half.

Thanks to a 48-yard pass into Tampa Bay territory, the offense moved the ball into field goal range and with 21 seconds left in the half Aubrey connected on a 41-yard field goal that put Dallas up 10-7. The drive was 6 plays, 64 yards and took 1:31.

The Bucs ran out the clock and the teams went in to make changes for the second half.

Tampa Bay began at their 14 after the kickoff and on the first play of the possession Bucky Irving broke loose on a 72-yard run down the left sideline and on the next play Emeka Egbuka ran in 14 yards for a touchdown with exactly 14 minutes left in the third quarter. McLaughlin’s extra point try was good and Dallas trailed for the first time in the game, 14-10.

Dallas began their next possession at their 32 after the return. The offense moved the ball down the field but on a key 3rd down play, Prescott’s pass bounced off two Cowboys and one Buccaneer defender before Yaya Diaby caught the ball for an interception and the visitors took over on their 25 with 10:43 left in the quarter.

Daniels carved through the non-existent Dallas defense again, putting another TD drive together. The score came on a 2-yard run by Irving with 7:31 left in the third stanza. McLaughlin’s extra pint kick was good and the Dallas fans were in total shock with their team trailing 21-10 to a winless Bucs team.

On the ensuing kickoff Turpin had the ball knocked out and Tampa Bay recovered at the Dallas 37, adding insult to injury in a game that was slipping away from the good guys.

The defense did manage to hold the Bucs to a 41-yard field goal try from McLaughlin. The kick was good and Dallas found themselves trailing 24-14 with 2:58 left in the third quarter. The drive was 8 plays, 14 yards and took 4:26.

The offense failed to get anything going once again, and in a desperation move Brian Schottenheimer chose to go for a 4th and 3 and a pass fell incomplete, giving the Bucs the ball back at the Dallas 43 with 1:41 left in the third quarter.

Daniels led his team down to the Dallas 1 where they faced a 4th and goal and the officials ruled the runner was down about 6 inches from the goal and the ball turned over on downs with slightly under 9 minutes left in the game.

Prescott led the offense on a 99-yard drive that ended with an 18-yard TD pass to George Pickens with 5:26 left in the game. Schottenheimer chose to go for 2 and a Prescott pass fell incomplete, leaving Dallas trailing by 8, down 24-16. The drive was 10 plays and took 2:06 off the clock.

The Cowboys forced a punt on the next possession and Turpin returned the ball up to the 23 where Prescott brought the offense out realizing this could well be their last chance to try to get another TD and a 2-point conversion to tie the game.

They moved deep into Bucs territory but a pass intended for Jake Ferguson bounced off his hands and was intercepted by Alex Anzalone and Tampa Bay took over on their 12 with under a minute and a half to play. They gained a first down and the game ended leaving 92,351 mad and disappointed fans watching their team go down 24-16. The loss drops Dallas to 2-3 on the year while Tampa Bay moved to 1-4 with the win.

In his postgame presser Coach Brian Schottenheimer was asked how surprised he was about the team’s struggles in 2026.

“Disappointed for sure. I told the guys in there that it was missed opportunities. We really didn’t play good in all three phases. Certainly not good enough to win a game in the National Football League, and they know that. It comes down to the National Football League is going to come down to the fourth quarter. And even with as poorly as we performed, we had a chance to still get back in and try to win the game. And we came up short.”

Prescott was asked when he came in to talk with the media after the bitter loss against a winless team they should have bowled over he was asked how the team could get the running game going.

I mean you just got to stay ahead of the chains and whether it’s running the ball whether it’s passing and short passes or play action, you just said it. I mean, you don’t run it well on offense on first down and maybe it’s again on second, you’ve got to throw it. It’s just hard to stick to something that you don’t feel like you’re getting a lot from it. And so then particularly right then when you get behind, it just makes it that much more challenging. So, I’ve got a lot of confidence in our run game, that offensive line definitely Javonte and the backs. We just got to give ourselves a chance to stick to it.

Things don’t get easier in the near future. After getting a mini bye, they will go to Lambeau Field to take on the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night, October 18th and then the following Monday night, October 26th the will travel to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles before heading back to AT&T Stadium on Sunday, November 1st to host the Arizona Cardinals in a 12 PM contest.

Fortunately, it is the early part of the season, but the Pokes will have to get the ship righted soon. Otherwise, it will be the same song, different verse and the team will head toward yet another subpar season.