Rico Dowdle put the Dallas Cowboys on notice ahead of their Week 6 matchup, and the new Carolina Panthers star lived up to his word.
Dowdle put up a whopping 183 rushing yards on 30 carries, averaging 6.1 yards per attempt.
He also hauled in four receptions on five catches for 56 yards and one touchdown.
Clearly, it was personal for him, and when asked about taking down his former team, he had a blunt yet candid message for them:
“They wasn’t buckled up,” Dowdle said.
Rico Dowdle on postgame message to Cowboys:
"They wasn't buckled up."
His 473 scrimmage yards over the past 2 games set a new Panthers record previously held by Christian McCaffrey. pic.twitter.com/51McXkaB8O
— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) October 12, 2025
You know you’ve done something big when you leave Jerry Jones, of all people, at a loss for words and running away from microphones.
Granted, to be fair, it’s not like Dowdle was putting up these types of performances in Arlington.
He was just the next player in a long list of average running backs who failed to get anything going in their mediocre running game.
So, it’s not like they desperately had to keep him around or that losing him was definitely going to come back to haunt them.
If anything, he was Chuba Hubbard’s backup before he suffered an injury, although he may have earned the starting spot by now.
Also, the Cowboys’ running game has been efficient with Javonte Williams leading the way, and rookie Jaydon Blue should have a bigger role now that Miles Sanders is out with an injury
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