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Illustration of a Buccaneers ball carrier breaking away from a diving Cowboys defender under Thursday night lights

Buccaneers Stun Cowboys 24-16 as Undrafted Rookie Jalon Daniels Outduels Dak Prescott

By The Sports Nus Staff | October 9, 2026

The Dallas Cowboys were at home, under the lights, facing a winless team starting an undrafted rookie quarterback. The Cowboys lost anyway.

Tampa Bay beat Dallas 24-16 on Thursday Night Football at AT&T Stadium, with rookie Jalon Daniels outdueling Dak Prescott while Baker Mayfield watched from the sideline. The Buccaneers earned their first win to move to 1-4. The Cowboys fell to 2-3, and the night somehow got worse for Prescott after the final whistle.

Daniels, an undrafted rookie out of Kansas making just his second career start in place of Mayfield and his dislocated thumb, was surgical: 19 of 25 for 189 yards and a touchdown with no turnovers. He became the first undrafted rookie starter of the common draft era to win a game for a team that entered winless.

"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, via the Associated Press. "Like I keep saying, through all the highs and lows, the bads, the goods, go through every single emotion because at the end of the day, it makes you better and prepares you for any situation that comes down the line."

The engine was Bucky Irving. The running back piled up a career-high 165 rushing yards on 21 carries with two touchdowns, including a 72-yard burst to open the third quarter that set up the go-ahead score one play later. Tampa Bay ran for 241 yards as a team and outscored Dallas 17-0 in the third quarter.

Prescott threw for 316 yards but both of his interceptions came on tipped balls, including the backbreaker: a fourth-quarter pass that caromed off Jake Ferguson's hands and into the waiting arms of Alex Anzalone with 1:12 left. George Pickens was brilliant in defeat with nine catches for 130 yards and a touchdown.

Then came the tunnel. As Prescott walked to the locker room, a man later identified as a third-party contractor working as a car service driver yelled "Embarrassing" at him. Prescott stared him down and told a team employee to "get his ass out of here," and the exchange went viral within minutes.

Prescott addressed it with reporters afterward. "Not that they're wrong," he said. Then he explained what actually bothered him: "When he said it, I just happened to look at him, and at that point, he looked away. 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."

The other bad news for Dallas: CeeDee Lamb managed just two catches for 9 yards before leaving in the second half with a quadriceps injury. His status going forward is the single biggest variable for this offense.

Betting angle

Forget the final score for a second and look at what actually happened: Tampa Bay ran for 241 yards and forced three second-half takeaways. That is a formula, not a fluke. The Bucs were winless but competitive in every loss, and now they have a rookie quarterback who does not turn it over and a running game that can control clock.

For Dallas, the market is about to do what it always does after a prime-time embarrassment: overcorrect. The Cowboys' problems are real, but they are concentrated in run defense and Lamb's quad. If Lamb is out multiple weeks, fade Dallas until the line catches up. If he is fine, the value will be on the Cowboys as a wounded home favorite that everyone is done with. Wait for the injury report before touching either side.

Key Facts

VIA Reuters, Associated Press, NBC Sports, New York Post. Daniels quote via Associated Press. Prescott tunnel quotes via New York Post and NBC Sports.

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