Tampa Bay’s Messy 24-16 Win Leaves Dallas Exposed

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Dallas Cowboys 24-16 on Thursday night in Arlington for their first win of the season. Bucky Irving ran for 165 yards, undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels went 19 of 25, and Tampa still drew 14 penalties.

Dallas had just beaten Houston and spent the week saying the defense was getting better. A 9.5-point home favorite then spent 39:21 chasing Irving, and left AT&T Stadium at 2-3.

BUCS WIN ON PRIMETIME ✅ pic.twitter.com/eI7ClwNWlQ

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) October 9, 2026

Tampa Bay Ran for 241 Yards and Never Let Go

The Cowboys marched 70 yards in 9 plays on the opening drive, and Javonte Williams punched in a 1-yard score at 10:51 of the first quarter. That was the clean part of Dallas’s night. Tampa answered with a 15-play, 73-yard grind that ate 10:58, and Daniels was 8 of 8 for 49 yards on the series before he dumped a 5-yard touchdown to Irving, tying it at 7-7 as the second quarter began.

Brandon Aubrey’s 41-yard field goal with 21 seconds left in the half made it 10-7. Then the Buccaneers took the second-half kickoff and needed two plays to go in front for good. Irving broke left tackle for 72 yards to the Dallas 14, a career long and the second-longest rush of the season, covering 90.50 yards of actual distance and hitting 20.43 mph. Emeka Egbuka finished the 86-yard, 1:00 drive with a 14-yard jet sweep, his first career rushing touchdown, and Tampa led 14-10 at 14:00 of the third.

THE SCORING IN ARLINGTON

1. 10:51, first quarter: Williams 1-yard run (Aubrey kick), 9 plays, 70 yards, 4:09. Cowboys 7-0.
2. 14:53, second quarter: Irving 5-yard catch from Daniels (Chase McLaughlin kick), 15 plays, 73 yards, 10:58. Tied 7-7.
3. 0:21, second quarter: Aubrey 41-yard field goal, 6 plays, 64 yards, 1:31. Cowboys 10-7.
4. 14:00, third quarter: Egbuka 14-yard run (McLaughlin kick), 2 plays, 86 yards, 1:00. Buccaneers 14-10.
5. 7:31, third quarter: Irving 1-yard run (McLaughlin kick), 5 plays, 75 yards, 3:12. Buccaneers 21-10.
6. 2:58, third quarter: McLaughlin 41-yard field goal, 8 plays, 14 yards, 4:26. Buccaneers 24-10.
7. 5:26, fourth quarter: George Pickens 18-yard catch from Dak Prescott (pass failed), 10 plays, 99 yards, 3:06. Buccaneers 24-16.

Tampa Bay ran 39 times for 241 yards, a 6.2-yard average, and held the ball for 39:21. Irving carried 21 times at 7.9 yards a pop, scored on the 1-yard plunge that made it 21-10, and added the 5-yard catch. Sean Tucker, Kenny Gainwell, Daniels, and Chris Godwin chipped in the rest. Dallas ran 13 times for 50 yards. Paid attendance was 92,351, and the retractable roof was closed.

The Rookie Went 19 of 25 in Arlington

Daniels, an undrafted free agent out of Kansas making his second NFL start and first on the road, completed 19 of 25 for 189 yards and the Irving touchdown. He was not intercepted, took one sack for 11 yards, ran 7 times for 23, and posted a 110.2 passer rating. Tez Johnson’s 64-yard catch on a corner route, a ball Dallas left him alone on, set up Irving’s 1-yard score. Egbuka caught 6 for 38. Godwin had 3 for 37.

Baker Mayfield remains out with the dislocated right thumb he suffered late in the Week 3 loss to Minnesota. Coach Todd Bowles said then that the MRI showed a dislocation with no ligament or tendon damage, no surgery, and a minimum of three weeks. The earliest return on that clock is Week 7 at Carolina, so Daniels is in line to start again when Pittsburgh visits on Oct. 18. A week earlier against Green Bay he had gone 19 of 27 for 148 yards with a touchdown, two interceptions, and 55 rushing yards in a 17-14 loss. This was cleaner. Before kickoff he had said he wanted to play free and fire the troops up.

That’s a W. Go Bucs, baby!

Jalon Daniels, quarterback, after the game

Bucky Irving on TNF:
175 total yards
2 total TDs

Helped the @Buccaneers secure their first win of the season 🔥 pic.twitter.com/VyOQQlDm6v

— NFL (@NFL) October 9, 2026

Bowles called the rookie’s night excellent. Mayfield was inactive, as was All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield Jr. Easton Stick dressed as the emergency quarterback and did not play. Tampa Bay had not won a Thursday night road game since Oct. 14, 2021, when Tom Brady beat Philadelphia.

A Defense That Cannot Get Off the Field

Prescott finished 24 of 42 for 316 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions, a 69.1 rating, with no sacks. Pickens caught 9 passes for 130 yards, including the 18-yard score that cut it to 24-16. Ryan Flournoy had 3 catches for 90 yards, one of them for 48. CeeDee Lamb was a non-factor, 2 for 9 on 5 targets. Williams added his sixth rushing touchdown in five games on that opening 1-yard run, then was held to 12 carries for 45 yards.

The passing totals make the loss look closer than the night felt. After the 70-yard opening drive, Dallas’s offense lived in short possessions. Tampa converted 7 of 13 third downs, including a third-and-21 to Egbuka, and the Cowboys went 4 of 10. Through four games, opposing quarterbacks had posted a 122.7 passer rating against Dallas, worst in the league, with 9 touchdowns and no interceptions. Daniels made it five straight weeks of a 99-plus rating. It has been 1,004 days since holding a team under 14 points, a drought that dates to Week 18 of 2023 against Washington.

Brian Schottenheimer said Monday, after the Houston win, that he did not want to need 30 points every week.

I think our defense is getting better. I don’t want to have to score 30 points every game to win. But if we got to score 35 or whatever it takes to win, we’ll do that. Because at some point, they’re gonna bail us out and we’re gonna win a game 10-7.

Brian Schottenheimer, Cowboys head coach, Oct. 6

They did not get 10-7. They got 241 yards on the ground, a 72-yard run, a 64-yard pass, and a first down on third-and-21. The run defense entered the night 31st at 150.3 yards a game. Third-and-down defense, which had tightened against Baltimore (3 of 9) and Houston (3 of 10), gave Tampa four conversions on the first drive alone. Joey Porter Jr. ruled out with illness shortly before kickoff, a late scratch after Dallas had traded for him to stabilize the secondary. DaRon Bland and the rest of that group spent the night chasing.

THE NIGHT BY THE TEAM STATS

Dallas still moved the ball in bursts. The problem was getting the ball back, then keeping it. Tampa’s 24 first downs to Dallas’s 20 were the slow leak. The three turnovers were the punctures.

THREE DALLAS GIVEAWAYS

• Diaby’s pick: Yaya Diaby intercepted Prescott after Tykee Smith bobbled a ball in the third quarter, and Tampa turned the takeaway into Irving’s 1-yard score.
• Turpin’s fumble: Miles Killebrew forced it and Kevin Knowles recovered, setting up McLaughlin’s 41-yard kick that made it 24-10.
• Anzalone’s tip: With 1:16 left, a Prescott throw hit Jake Ferguson in the hands and face mask and dropped to Alex Anzalone at the Tampa 12.

Without Winfield, Smith recorded 5 quarterback pressures on 7 blitzes. Jacob Parrish led the Bucs with 9 tackles and 4 passes defensed. Prescott completed 2 of 13 against the blitz through three quarters and finished 9 of 20 against it. The unit that entered the week allowing completions on 63.8 percent of blitz snaps finally got a night of incompletions, and it still needed the takeaways to finish.

Bowles Went for It on Fourth-and-Goal

Up 24-10 with 8:32 left, Tampa faced fourth-and-goal from the 1 after a 12-play drive that had already covered 41 yards. A field goal would have made it a 17-point game. Bowles kept the offense out, and Tucker’s run was stuffed. Dallas took over and drove 99 yards in 10 plays and 3:06, Prescott hitting Pickens for 18 yards. The two-point pass failed, so it was 24-16 at 5:26, which is how a two-score lead became a one-score game.

The Cowboys forced a punt, got the ball back with timeouts, and had a path to a tying touchdown and a two-point try. That is the possession Anzalone ended. Irving then ripped off 22 yards on second-and-12, and Daniels knelt. The fourth-down call did not cost Tampa the win. It did give Dallas the only oxygen it had after the third-quarter collapse, and it is the sort of choice that follows a 1-4 coach around if the next one goes the other way.

The flags were the other stain. Fourteen penalties for 92 yards is how a team that ran for 241 yards and did not turn it over still felt like it was playing in a windstorm. Dallas was flagged 7 times for 57 yards. Tampa’s offense overcame the yellow cloth because the Cowboys could not get off the field and because Irving kept finding the edge.

IRVING’S NIGHT IN NUMBERS

• 165 rushing yards: A career high, past his previous best of 152, and his first 100-yard game since Week 16 of 2024.
• 72-yard long: The longest Buccaneers rush since Ronald Jones II’s 98-yard run in Week 10 of 2020.
• Two touchdowns: The 5-yard catch and the 1-yard run were his first career game with multiple scores.
• 175 yards from scrimmage: 165 on the ground, 10 on 2 catches, plus the 22-yard run that iced it.

Zac Robinson’s line finally looked like a unit on that 72-yarder, with 64 yards coming before contact. If that synergy holds against a better front than Dallas showed, Tampa’s floor with Daniels rises. If it was one night against the 31st run defense, the Steelers will answer that on Oct. 18.

Anzalone’s Late Interception Ended the Rally

Anzalone has spent the first month trying to fit Todd Bowles’s scheme and taking heat for the fit. The ball that bounced off Ferguson landed in his hands with 1:16 to play, at the Tampa 12, with Dallas still in range to tie. He finished with 5 tackles, the interception, and a pass defensed. The night needed a closer, and it was the linebacker who had been the problem in the local argument.

That is the shape of this win. The Buccaneers were 0-4, the last winless team in the NFC, starting an undrafted rookie on the road on a Thursday, missing Winfield, drawing 14 flags, and stuffing themselves at the 1. They still won because Dallas handed them three takeaways and 241 yards on the ground, and because a defense that keeps promising a 10-7 night keeps giving up 20-plus. The upset is real. So is the tape on Schottenheimer’s side of the ball.

Pittsburgh and Green Bay Wait on Oct. 18

Tampa Bay is 1-4 and hosts the Steelers on Oct. 18. Mayfield’s three-week floor, counted from the Sept. 28 announcement, still points past that date, so Daniels should get a third start in a building that will be louder than Arlington was for him. The NFC South is a four-team scramble, with Carolina and Atlanta at 2-2 and New Orleans at 1-3, and one win does not move Tampa out of last. It does mean the season is no longer a shutout.

Dallas is 2-3, third in the NFC East behind the Giants (3-1) and Eagles (2-2), and goes to Green Bay on Oct. 18 at 8:20 p.m. ET. Jordan Love is the next quarterback in a line that has already posted ratings of 134.2, 136.7, 126.7, and now 110.2. Jalen Hurts and Philadelphia arrive the following Monday night. Tyler Smith started at left guard in his return from thumb surgery, and that line still could not run the ball after the first drive. Pickens can pile up 130 yards in a loss. The defense still cannot buy the offense a short night.

The Buccaneers will take the 24-16 and the quiet flight home. Dallas has a week to explain how a team that wanted to talk like a contender lost at home to a club that came in 0-4 with a quarterback nobody drafted.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who Is Jalon Daniels, the Buccaneers’ Fill-In Quarterback?

Daniels went undrafted in April after six seasons at Kansas, where he ranks second in program history in passing yards and touchdowns, then beat out veteran competition for Tampa Bay’s backup job in camp. He is the first undrafted rookie to start at quarterback for the Buccaneers and the first Tampa rookie to start at the position since Jameis Winston in 2015. The last time anyone other than Mayfield started for this club was Tom Brady in 2022.

When Is Baker Mayfield Expected to Return?

Bowles has kept him on the 53-man roster rather than injured reserve, which leaves a window as soon as Week 7 at Carolina if he can grip the ball. The dislocation happened on a fourth-and-1 hit by Minnesota linebacker Blake Cashman on Sept. 27, and the MRI found no ligament or tendon damage. Stick was elevated from the practice squad as the third quarterback and did not play Thursday.

When Did Tampa Bay Last Win a Thursday Night Road Game?

Oct. 14, 2021, at Philadelphia, with Brady at quarterback. Thursday’s 24-16 win snapped a drought that covered the rest of Brady’s final season and the first four years of the Mayfield era. It was also Daniels’s first career victory as a starter.

Why Was Joey Porter Jr. Out Against the Buccaneers?

Dallas listed him out with an illness at 5:45 p.m., a late scratch after trading for the corner to help a secondary that had already been leaking. DeMarvion Overshown was also inactive, and the Cowboys played the night without two of the additions meant to fix last year’s defense. Shavon Revel started in the corner group that spent the night chasing Irving’s cutbacks and Daniels’s deep ball to Johnson.