Dallas Cowboys fans inside AT&T Stadium let the players hear it throughout their 24-16 defeat on Thursday night to the previously winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The lack of execution throughout, including on a two-point conversation try late in the fourth quarter with the Cowboys trailing by eight, led to boos as Dallas fell to 2-3 on the season and suffered their second straight loss at home.
It wasn’t just the fans inside the stadium letting the players know how they feel. As the players walked back to the locker room after the game, a contract car service driver, who was standing outside of the players’ exit at the stadium, said “Embarrassing” as quarterback Dak Prescott walked by.
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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 pic.twitter.com/ffznCyahvv
— Adam Rossow (@AdamJRossow) October 9, 2026
“When he said it, I just happened to look at him, and at that point, he looked away,” said Prescott, who noted the person wasn’t “wrong” in his assessment. “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.
“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 it that it’s even being talked about, to be honest with you.”
The Buccaneers’ win marked only the sixth time in Cowboys history that they lost to a team that was sporting an 0-4 record or worse.
Prescott added that Thursday night was one of those games on a team’s schedule that they were “supposed to have on paper.”
“I think [head 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 16 points is the lowest scored by the Cowboys since Week 3 of last season. They recorded just 50 rushing yards, their lowest since Week 16 in 2024, and allowed at least 20 points for the 12th straight game dating back to last season.
Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving ran for 165 yards, including a 72 yarder early in the third quarter and undrafted quarterback Jalon Daniels threw for a career-high 189 yards in his second NFL start.
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said eyes are on the defense, but first-year defensive coordinator Christian Parker is in no danger of having his play-calling duties reassigned, something Jones said was “premature.”
“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
The Cowboys will remain on primetime in their next two games with Week 6’s Sunday night matchup against the Green Bay Packers before taking on NFC East rivals the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night in Week 7.