ARLINGTON, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys (2-3) blew a golden opportunity to position themselves as the team to beat in the NFC East after gifting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-4) their first win of the season in a 24-16 "Thursday Night Football" defeat. This defeat takes the cake as the most head-scratching loss of the short Brian Schottenheimer era, losing at home as a 9.5-point favorite against a winless squad with a backup quarterback. As Dallas trudged off their home field, a chorus of boos rang throughout the 100,000-seat AT&T Stadium like it was the Haunted Mansion.

It was so baffling that someone yelled "embarrassing" at Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott as he walked through the bowels of the stadium to the locker room by himself postgame. 

"It's a loss we're supposed to have, definitely supposed to have. To use the word embarrassing — it's tough," Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said. "I feel like I'm discrediting the NFL if I use that [the word embarrassing] and particularly the Tampa Bay Bucs, the great Todd Bowles. … [But] when a winless team comes into your home stadium on a Thursday night primetime game, yeah, we're supposed to win that." 

All the Cowboys had to do to get a winning streak going after a road win at the Houston Texans in Week 4 was take care of business at home against a previously 0-4 Buccaneers team. The Bucs entered Week 5 with 16 sacks allowed (the most in the league and the team's most through four games since 1991), nine turnovers (the third-most in the NFL) and a negative-5 turnover differential (tied for the second-worst in the NFL). 

Dallas only had to play a clean game at home, and it would be 3-2 with a 10-day layoff until its next game at the Green Bay Packers on "Sunday Night Football" on Oct. 18. Instead, the Cowboys are 2-3 and looked like a team that was playing their third game in 12 days, with the sloppiness and lack of execution in all three phases of the game, particularly on defense.

The 2026 Cowboys are now the third team since 1940 to allow 375-plus total yards (419 on Thursday) without an interception in five straight games within a season. Since Dallas did so in five consecutive games to begin a season, it's the longest such streak to begin a year, per CBS Sports Research. When asked by CBS Sports how Jones would evaluate new defensive coordinator Christian Parker's work through the first five games, Jones said he didn't even want to discuss the topic. 

"Well, I don't want to go there at all," Jones said. "We did all the [wrong] things to get that score to end up like it was, and I thought we had the team that could get out of here with a win. So it's very disappointing. … I feel that he's competent."

Where the Cowboys' problems start

The miscues were most glaring on defense, where the Cowboys were facing undrafted rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels, making his second career start. On the Buccaneers' opening drive, the Cowboys committed three defensive penalties that helped Tampa Bay go on a 15-play, 73-yard scoring drive that tied the game at 7-7 early. 

Tampa Bay's drive lasted 10:58, the longest drive the franchise has had since 2007, and it also ranked as the second-longest drive by any team in "Thursday Night Football" history, per CBS Sports Research. Daniels completed all eight of his throws for 49 yards, including a five-yard touchdown pass. That tied the most pass attempts without an incompletion on any drive by a Buccaneers quarterback in the last 35 seasons. 

Following that drive, Dallas' offense lost the rhythm it had on its touchdown drive to begin the game, punting on its next three possessions while its defense struggled to get off the field. 

"Yeah, it's no fun, but it's the NFL. It's not an excuse," Prescott said. "There was so much simple in that first drive, and I think after [the Buccaneers] said, 'OK, we're going to throw the kitchen sink at these guys.' And it worked." 

After the Cowboys entered the locker room with a 10-7 lead, the wheels came off the Dallas defense's collective wagon. Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving juked seemingly the entire Cowboys' front seven at the line of scrimmage before taking his first carry of the second half 72 yards. Tampa wide receiver Emeka Egbuka scored on a 14-yard end-around on the very next play for a touchdown. Forget needing 11 minutes, the Cowboys allowed Tampa Bay to score their second touchdown in just two plays. 

Irving finished with a career-high 165 yards rushing and a touchdown on 21 carries for a 7.9 yards per carry average. Entering Thursday, he had averaged just 59.2 rushing yards per game across the last two seasons. 

"The thing that probably bothers me the most was how they ran between the tackles so to speak and were able to have that running game up in there where we have a lot of strength [Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark]," said owner and general manager Jerry Jones. "That's something that we have to look at and will."

Another play just as embarrassing as giving up Irving's 72-yard run: A coverage bust allowed Buccaneers wide receiver Tez Johnson to spring free deep down the sideline for a 64-yard completion to the Dallas 15. Cornerback DaRon Bland, who was pressed back into the boundary corner spot because new corner Joey Porter Jr. fell ill with flu-like symptoms, slipped on Johnson's double move on the play. Three plays later, Irving was in the end zone again. 

By the end of the night, Daniels finished with 189 yards and a touchdown on 19-of-25 passing for a 110.2 passer rating to cap off the third-largest upset win by an undrafted rookie quarterback since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger, per CBS Sports Research. 

Defense is Dallas' biggest problem, but not its only one

Don't get us wrong: It wasn't just the defense that fell short for the Cowboys. The offense and special teams units had their own contribution to the Cowboys' misery. After the kickoff following Irving's third-quarter touchdown, Pro Bowl return man KaVontae Turpin fumbled the football right back to the Buccaneers, which allowed Tampa Bay to begin its next drive at the Cowboys' 37. 

Young edge rushers Donovan Ezeiruaku and Malachi Lawrence combined to sack Jalon Daniels for a loss of 11 on the first play from scrimmage. However, on third-and-21, Dallas surrendered a 21-yard pass from Daniels to Emeka Egbuka to move the chains. The Cowboys' defense then locked in, allowing just three points on the drive, a 41-yard field goal that put them down 24-10 in the third quarter. 

Soon after, facing a fourth-and-3 at Dallas' 43, Prescott missed an open George Pickens along the sideline on a fourth-and-3 incompletion to Jake Ferguson. It looked like Prescott was predetermined to throw the second he snapped the ball because of Todd Bowles' pressure package. Prescott chalked up his misfire in that moment — and on the throws that led to two tipped-ball interceptions — as decision-making, not fatigue.

Surprisingly, Dallas defense stuffed Buccaneers running back Sean Tucker's fourth-and-goal run from the one to get the Cowboys the ball back down two scores with 8:32 left — plenty of time to come back at home. Prescott delivered with an 18-yard precision strike to Pickens, who broke out with a season-high 130 yards receiving and a touchdown on nine catches, to trim the lead to eight. A failed two-point conversion play kept the margin there. 

Prescott got the ball back one more time, but tight end Jake Ferguson tipped the ball into the air on a tight window throw, allowing Buccaneers linebacker Alex Anzalone to intercept the pass. That sealed the upset victory for Tampa Bay's first win of the year. Prescott finished with 316 yards passing, a touchdown and two interceptions while completing 24 of 42 throws.

Where Dallas goes from here

After three straight 12-win seasons from 2021 to 2023, the Cowboys have been mired in mediocrity. In 2024, Dallas went 7-10 with Prescott sidelined midseason due to a torn hamstring, then went 7-9-1 in 2025 with the league's worst scoring defense. This season, Dallas had a crushing defeat in Brazil against the Baltimore Ravens on a last-second field goal, but rebounded with a game-winning touchdown at the Houston Texans with 40 seconds left in Week 4. Then came the faceplant against the Bucs. The Cowboys' back-and-forth, seesaw nature would wear anybody out, and it frustrates those in the locker room. 

"I know guys are fighting. I know guys are trying, but it sucks," Prescott said. "It's challenging. It's very, very challenging, and it's something that I'm going to embrace."

Fortunately for Dallas, reaching the top of the NFC East may still be within reach in 2026, as crazy as that sounds. The New York Giants are 3-1, but their ceiling is capped by the season-ending knee injury to quarterback Jaxson Dart. Fill-in Jameis Winston ranks dead last in the NFL in completion percentage at 55.1% this season. The Philadelphia Eagles (2-2) are fresh off an epic meltdown home loss against the Los Angeles Rams in which they blew a double-digit lead and went 0-12 in third-down conversion attempts. 

In the aftermath of that loss, Eagles six-time Pro Bowl right tackle Lane Johnson retired on Tuesday, and then Philadelphia traded away two-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman Cam Jurgens to the Baltimore Ravens. That's on top of their CVS receipt-length injury list. The Washington Commanders are 1-3, and quarterback Jayden Daniels is once again dealing with an elbow injury. 

That's why Thursday's defeat needs to be a turning point for the Cowboys in 2026. They need to take care of the games they're supposed to. Otherwise, Parker's Dallas defense and its results will continue to look a lot like predecessor Matt Eberflus' unit that finished as the league's worst scoring defense in 2025.

"It's these kinds of games that you feel like you should just walk in and win," Prescott said. "You just got to handle your business in this league, and that means winning the games you're supposed to win, and that'll help a lot." 

Add CBS Sports on Google