A Big Upset In The Big D: 3 Takeaways From Cowboys’ Stunning Loss To Buccaneers

AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas) — If you thought the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would upset the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday, then congratulations, you were on the right side of one of the biggest upsets this NFL season. 

In a game that many expected the 9.5-point favorite Cowboys to run away with, the Buccaneers put on a strong road performance for much of the night, winning 24-16. The win was Tampa Bay’s first of the season, coming as head coach Todd Bowles dealt with constant hot-seat talk. 

Now, will head coach Brian Schottenheimer and the Cowboys deal with the same talk as they fell to 2-3 on the season? Here are my takeaways from the Buccaneers’ upset win over the Cowboys. 

This could have been a prime-time showcase for Dak Prescott against a winless opponent, a chance to elevate the Cowboys and show them as a worthy contender in a muddled NFC East.

But Prescott struggled to complete passes to his two elite receivers for the first three-plus quarters of Thursday night’s game, enough so that he was booed in his own stadium after a fourth-down pass sailed high and incomplete.

Give credit to Bucs corners Zyon McCollum and Jacob Parrish for keeping CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens in check. Entering the fourth quarter, Pickens had 63 yards on eight targets, and Lamb was held to 9 yards on five targets.

Dallas came in averaging 30 points per game, second-best in the NFL. But after marching down the field to score on their opening drive, the Cowboys managed three points on their next seven drives. 

That the Cowboys pulled off a 99-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter after a stop at the 1-yard line was impressive. That was too little, too late, though. The Cowboys’ final drive got to the Bucs’ 33, but any shot at a tying score was ended when a Prescott pass bounced off Jake Ferguson and was picked off by linebacker Alex Anzalone. 

Prescott finished the night completing 24 of 42 passes for 316 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. At one point in the third quarter, Prescott was 13 of 27 for just 117 yards if you removed his 48-yard catch to Ryan Flournoy right before halftime. 

The hope had been that new Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker could help that defense take a major step forward in 2026, but we haven’t seen that five games in.

Dallas came in with a bottom-five defense in nearly any category, and Tampa wisely attacked their struggles against the run. Bucky Irving’s 72-yard run was a big chunk of the damage, but midway through the fourth quarter, they were over 200 rushing yards before finishing the night with 241 yards. Dallas has now allowed 168.8 rushing yards per game this season. If that holds through the rest of the year, that would be the most rushing yards per game the Cowboys have allowed since their inaugural season in 1960.

The Cowboys tried to address a major need in acquiring corner Joey Porter Jr. from the Steelers, but he was a late scratch in pregame due to illness, so that solution was missing. The concerns at the line of scrimmage. They’ve got five sacks total in five games, and are very real and not going away.  

Four and a half games into the 2026 season, the Buccaneers have finally found an offensive spark.

They had struggled to that point under new coordinator Zac Robinson, scoring fewer points each week and mustering seven points in the first half against a bad Dallas defense.

Then, on their first play of the second half, running back Bucky Irving danced around a few Cowboys defenders at the line of scrimmage, then broke away for a 72-yard run. The next snap, receiver Emeka Egbuka went 14 yards for a touchdown, and the Bucs had a rare lead.

Next drive? Undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels found receiver Tez Johnson wide-open for a 64-yard pass play to set up an Irving touchdown, and in a blink, they led the Cowboys 21-10.

In half a quarter, the Bucs had two plays longer than any they’d had in the previous calendar year, and it was enough to propel them to a much-needed first win of the season.

Credit Robinson for crafting a game plan that protected Daniels in his second NFL start. The offensive line struggled with penalties again, but Daniels had time to find open receivers downfield. They outscored the Cowboys 17-0 in the third and outgained them 198-59 in the period, thanks to fundamental football and explosive playmaking.