ARLINGTON, Texas – There are going to be a whole lot of fingers being pointed at the Dallas Cowboys defense, and let me repeat, a whole lot of fingers being pointed at the Cowboys defense for this:
Buccaneers 24, Cowboys 16, winless no longer.
Come on, the Cowboys allowed Jalon Daniels, an undrafted rookie free agent quarterback starting just his second NFL game, to control the football for like 40 minutes (39:10 to be exact) of a 60-minute game on Thursday night at AT&T Stadium, having to go back to 2013 to find more time of possession against these Cowboys (Washington's 39:32).
Why, this defense allowed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense to pile up 419 total yards, 241 of those rushing. And we thought last year was atrocious when six times giving up at least 158 yards rushing, with a high of 216 to Carolina. The 241 was the most in the past 36 games since allowing 274 to Baltimore during the 2024 season.
Why, the defense gave up 136 of those 419 yards in two plays: A 72-yard Bucky Irving run to spur on the Bucs' two-play touchdown drive to open the third quarter to take a 14-10 lead in all of one minute; and then a Daniels' 64-yard pass to Tez Johnson when Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland slipped to the ground, leaving the Tampa wideout Mississippi River wide open and setting up the Buccaneers' next touchdown on their next possession for a 21-10 lead.
The defense also couldn't get off the field for 8:14 after that, though after 12 plays the Bucs turned the ball over to the Cowboys a half yard from the goal line after a failed fourth-down gamble.
But guess what?
Somehow, some way Tampa Bay (1-4) only scored 24 points. That's it, 24, the second fewest points the Cowboys have given up over these first five games, only the 20 to Washington in Week 2 fewer.
To me, this third loss in five games, quite similar to how the Cowboys began the 2025 season (2-3-1), is totally on the offense, supposedly this team's strength, though knowing its required duty is to score thirty-something every time out to compensate for the defensive deficiencies.
Not 16, not just two touchdowns and a field goal. Only once last year did the Cowboys score fewer than 17 points (twice), and that was Game 3 in a 31-14 loss to Chicago. Unacceptable, or rather, uh, offensive, if you know where we're going here.
Let the offensive general Dak Prescott explain.
"I'm a positive guy, and at the end of the day, that was 24 points," Dak said of what the defense gave up. "I mean, we've been scoring 30 points a game. That's on us. That's on us. I think up to this point (Tampa Bay) has given up 30 points maybe, something like that, a game or close to that, I guess. And so they gave us an opportunity to win."
Then Dak doubled down when tossed somewhat of a softball question, being asked what he can do to help the defense:
"Yeah, score. I mean, just honestly score. It's the NFL. Their hands are full, and they've got a tough task, and so do we on our side. So at the end of the day, I've got to control what I can control and that's score."
Boy, he's got that right.
Can't open the night scoring a touchdown on the first possession for the second time this season and then not score another one until 5:26 was left in the game with a mighty impressive 99½-yard drive to narrow the lead to 24-16, when strangely head coach Brian Schottenheimer dialed up a two-point conversion that failed. And the only thing qualifying that is if he thought his team was running out of gas playing its third game in 11 days and having spent those days surrounding the 34-31 loss to Baltimore in Rio on two 10-hour overnight flights, going and coming. Just not wanting to go into overtime if …
Well, moot point.
Can't turn the ball over three times, two of those the ball bouncing off hands into interceptions and one a fumbled kickoff return. No can do when your team fails to grab a takeaway for the fourth consecutive game and still has only two in five games.
Can't just run for 50 yards, though falling behind and only having the ball for a mere 20:39 contributed to just 13 carries.
But here was the deal, and let's give credit where credit is due. You know me, always have said the best way to control these Pro Bowl receivers, and the Cowboys have two of the best in the NFL in CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, is to control the quarterback. And a combination of two former Cowboys assistant coaches, Bucs head guy Todd Bowles, essentially the defensive coordinator, and defensive pass game coordinator George Edwards, decided the best way to handle Lamb and Pickens was to handle Dak. The worst part, the Cowboys knew that was coming. That's what Bowles does.
Man, did they blitz the daylights out of Prescott. Five-man blitzes. Six-man blitzes. A steady diet of linebackers, some defensive backs. They definitely threw Dak off his game for the majority of the frustrating night, as he completed just 24 of 42 passes (57 percent). Prescott averaged 7.5 yards per attempt and finished with a 69.1 QB rating, only in the previous 46 games with two lower ones.
Here is the result of all that pressure: While Dak pulled off some Houdini escapes to prevent getting sacked, he was hit four times (guarantee that was a gracious total), and when quarterbacks are either forcing passes in or not having time to throw accurately, bad things happen. The Bucs totaled 10 passes defensed, and Dak's two interceptions were throws that bounced off his receivers, and one off three defensive guys as well, before being picked.
He was under duress, as he was in the Houston game until exploding in the second half. And not until those desperate drives late in the fourth quarter did the Cowboys start getting the ball downfield. Why, 150 of Dak's 316 passing yards came in the final 8:32 of the game. But so did his second interception, that one banging off the hands of tight end Jake Ferguson, the team's third turnover of the game.
Even Schottenheimer had to admit as much.
"Well, I think we didn't handle the pressures very well," Schotty said. "I mean, they were moving, and this is nothing new. We've been getting blitzed a lot this year anyways, so that's no different. I think the biggest thing was, again, too many free runners. Dak was taking too many hits, and overall, we just didn't handle their pressure."
No, the Cowboys did not, and when teams are a minus-three in turnover differential, an undrafted rookie free agent quarterback in his second NFL start can compile a career-high 110.2 QB rating, and the opposing running back Irving is able to rush for 165 yards, even a winless team can pound out a victory.
Yep, enough fingers to go around.
