It was all good just a week ago.
Dallas Cowboys fans were riding high after Sunday’s 34-30 comeback win over the the Houston Texans, but just days later, they’re in shambles again, following Thursday’s 24-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who entered the night winless.
Things were so bad in Arlington on Thursday night that as Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott dejectedly walked through the bowels of AT&T Stadium and to the locker room, someone standing nearby called out to him: “Embarrassing.” Prescott turned to look at the person and when the quarterback looked away, the person can be heard saying, “He heard me.”
Prescott responded, “You said it once I looked off, huh?”
Here’s our angle of a worker – either stadium employee or valet car driver – calling out Dak Prescott and the Cowboys performance, with Dak’s reaction which he said was prompted by the man looking away after saying the criticisms. #dallascowboys #nfl https://t.co/ffznCyahvv
– Adam Rossow (@AdamJRossow) October 9, 2026
As he neared the locker room door, Prescott, talking to a Cowboys employee, sarcastically called the heckler a “tough guy,” and said, “Get his ass out of here.”
Cowboys public relations clarified to the Dallas Morning News that the heckler doesn’t work for the stadium or the team, but is employed by a third-party company.
Cowboys QB Dak Prescott got cat-called by someone in the tunnel. Someone called out “embarrassing!” Prescott heard it, said something back, and then pointed the person out to a Cowboys employee. https://t.co/5qImPdjT1s
– Mike Leslie (@MikeLeslieWFAA) October 9, 2026
After throwing for 316 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, the moment with the worker was the first question Prescott faced in his postgame press conference.
“When he said it, I just happened to look at him. And at that point, he looked away, didn’t look. And when I turned my head back, he said something else,” Prescott said. “So, that’s the part, just as a man or just as a person, feel free to speak your mind. Just speak it. Don’t coward away from the reaction that you’re going to get. 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. That’s all that was. Hate it that it’s even being talked about, to be honest with you.”
Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer corrected a reporter who asked if he didn’t find it disrespectful to hear such a comment from someone on the job.
“I didn’t say I didn’t take it as disrespect, you said that, I didn’t say that,” the second-year head coach said. “I said it’s motivating. People are allowed to say what they want to say.”
Subscribe
There’s more to Houston with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.
This article originally published at Cowboys’ Dak Prescott reacts to worker at stadium who heckled him after loss: ‘Don’t coward away’.