ARLINGTON, Texas -- As Dak Prescott walked down a long hallway to the locker room after the Dallas Cowboys’ 24-16 loss to the previously winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he heard someone yell, “Embarrassing.”
It was a third-party contractor positioned just outside the players’ exit from the AT&T Stadium field.
“When he said it, I just happened to look at him, and at that point, he looked away,” Prescott said. “And when I turned my head back, he said something else. And so that’s the part that, just as a man or as just a person, feel free to speak your mind -- just speak it. Don’t cower away from the reaction that you’re going to get.
“And so, if you’re saying it’s embarrassing, say it’s embarrassing. If you’re saying it to me, then say it to me. Don’t go back on it. So that’s all that was, and hate that it’s even being talked about, to be honest with you.”
Whether or not “embarrassing” was the proper description of the loss, it was historic in a way for the Cowboys. It was just the sixth time in Cowboys history that they have lost to a team that entered 0-4 or worse, and just the second time it has happened at home; in 1975, they fell to the 0-4 Green Bay Packers.
Now 2-3, the Cowboys have a 10-day break before playing the Packers on Oct. 18 at Lambeau Field.
Prescott did not want to use the word “embarrassing” because it would discredit what Tampa Bay did to the Cowboys, but he acknowledged that it was a game “we’re supposed to have on paper.”
“I think [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,” Prescott said. “And when a winless team comes into your home stadium in a Thursday night primetime game, yeah, we’re supposed to win that.”
The Cowboys were held to a season-low 16 points, their lowest total since a 31-14 Week 3 loss last year to the Chicago Bears. Prescott threw two interceptions on tipped passes, and KaVontae Turpin lost a fumble on a kickoff return. The Cowboys ran for just 50 yards, their lowest total since Week 16, 2024, against the Buccaneers, but Dallas won that game.
Defensively, the Cowboys allowed more than 20 points for the fifth straight game this season and 12th straight overall, matching a team record. They allowed 241 yards rushing, including a 72-yarder by Bucky Irving on the second play of the third quarter. Dallas gave up 165 yards before contact, the most by any team in a game this season. Undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels completed 19 of 25 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown.
“We are still, in my mind, right where we started, looking to our defense,” owner and general manager Jerry Jones said.
After allowing a franchise-record 511 points last year and finishing 30th in yards per game, the Cowboys entered Thursday with the 31st-ranked run defense and are on pace to give up 462 points, despite a change in style with first-time coordinator Christian Parker and what they thought was added talent.
Jones said it would be “premature” to consider making playcalling changes and that he had confidence Parker can turn around the defense.
“Certainly, he’s sitting there with taking it on the shoulders, which goes with the territory, but I feel that he’s competent,” Jones said. “And the things that he’s trying to do, I’m going to say it one more time, the thing that probably bothers me the most is how they ran between the tackles, so to speak, and were able to have that running game up in there with where we have a lot of strength [with Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark].”
The Cowboys’ chances at a comeback Thursday night, aided in part by Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles going for it on fourth down instead of kicking a field goal that would have upped the Bucs’ lead to 17 points, were hurt by a drop of a potential pick-six by DaRon Bland and a drop from tight end Jake Ferguson that was intercepted by linebacker Alex Anzalone.
The last time the Cowboys were 2-3 and made the playoffs was 2018.
“We’re going to make some decisions that we believe will give us the best chance to pick back up and play well next week,” Schottenheimer said. “We’re five games in, didn’t plan on being 2-3. Disappointed by that for sure, but we’re just getting started. There’s a lot of football left, and we got to play better. We know that.”
The Cowboys don’t play a home game again until Nov. 1 against the Arizona Cardinals. The third-party contractor might not be around when they get back, but his feelings might be shared by more by then.
Schottenheimer said the callout was “motivating.”
“We believe in what we’re doing,” he said. “We believe that we have good players, good coaches, and we believe the solution is in this room.”