Buccaneers Beat Cowboys for First Win

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Dallas Cowboys 24⁠–⁠16 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Thursday, 8 October, for their first win of the National Football League (NFL) season after four losses (ESPN box score; AP via ESPN). The Buccaneers now have one win and four losses, and the Cowboys two wins and three losses (ESPN).

Tampa Bay's quarterback, the player who throws the passes, was Jalon Daniels, a first-year player whom no team chose in the league's yearly selection of college players. He was making his second start in place of Baker Mayfield, who dislocated the thumb on his throwing hand and is expected to miss at least one more game (ESPN; AP via ESPN). In his first start Daniels threw three interceptions, passes caught by the other team, in a 17⁠–⁠14 loss to the Green Bay Packers (AP via ESPN).

This time he made no such mistakes. Daniels completed 19 of 25 passes for 189 yards and one touchdown, and Tampa Bay did not lose the ball once (ESPN box score). "Six months ago, if you would have told me that my first win would have been on a Thursday night, (Amazon) Prime football game, I don't know what I would have told you," Daniels said (AP via ESPN).

The star was Bucky Irving, the running back, who carries the ball on running plays. He ran 21 times for 165 yards, the most of his career, including a 72-yard run, his longest ever (ESPN box score; ESPN; AP via ESPN). He scored two touchdowns: one on a 5-yard pass from Daniels and one on a 1-yard run (ESPN scoring summary). It was his first game with 100 or more rushing yards since his rookie season in 2024 (AP via ESPN).

Dallas scored first, with a 1-yard touchdown run by Javonte Williams in the first quarter (ESPN scoring summary). Tampa Bay answered with a 15-play, 73-yard drive that used almost 11 minutes and ended with Irving's touchdown catch early in the second quarter (ESPN scoring summary; AP via ESPN). A 41-yard field goal, a kick through the posts worth three points, by Brandon Aubrey put Dallas ahead 10⁠–⁠7 at half-time (ESPN scoring summary).

The third quarter decided the game. On Tampa Bay's first play of the second half Irving ran 72 yards, and on the next play receiver Emeka Egbuka ran 14 yards for a touchdown to make it 14⁠–⁠10 (ESPN scoring summary; AP via ESPN). Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott then threw his first interception, caught by Yaya Diaby, and a 64-yard catch by Tez Johnson set up Irving's 1-yard touchdown run for 21⁠–⁠10 (ESPN box score; AP via ESPN). Dallas's KaVontae Turpin fumbled, or dropped the ball, on the next kickoff, and Chase McLaughlin kicked a 41-yard field goal for 24⁠–⁠10 (ESPN scoring summary; AP via ESPN).

Tampa Bay could have pulled further ahead midway through the fourth quarter. Their coach, Todd Bowles, chose to go for a touchdown on fourth down from the Dallas 1-yard line, the last of the four tries a team gets to move the ball forward, instead of kicking a field goal, and the run was stopped with 8 minutes 36 seconds left (ESPN). Prescott then led a 99-yard drive and threw a touchdown pass to George Pickens, but Dallas failed on a two-point try, a single play from just outside the goal line worth two extra points, so it stayed 24⁠–⁠16 (ESPN scoring summary; AP via ESPN). Prescott threw for 316 yards. His second interception, off a tipped pass and caught by Alex Anzalone with 1 minute 22 seconds left, sealed the game (ESPN box score; AP via ESPN).

Tampa Bay ran for 241 yards to Dallas's 50 and kept the ball for 39 minutes 21 seconds of the 60 (ESPN box score). Dallas lost the ball three times, Tampa Bay none (ESPN box score). It was the Buccaneers' first road win on a Thursday night since October 2021, when Tom Brady was their quarterback (ESPN).

"We lost the first quarter of the season," Bowles said. "We didn't lose the second, third or fourth. We've still got to play those" (AP via ESPN).

Tampa Bay host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, 18 October, and Dallas play at the Green Bay Packers the same day (AP via ESPN).

What a reader can take from Thursday in Texas is that a team with a backup rookie quarterback won by running the ball and not giving it away.