Falcons run game secures win over Saints | 01:32
A winless opponent and playing at home felt like the perfect mix for the Cowboys to get over the .500 mark.
Somehow, though, it proved to be a Texas two-step for a disaster.
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Week 5
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Dallas suffered a 24-16 loss to the previously winless Buccaneers who had undrafted rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels making the start for the injured Baker Mayfield.
But the Cowboys had a golden chance to tie things up — until a game-sealing interception by Dak Prescott on the team’s final offensive series, for all intents and purposes, ended things. Owner Jerry Jones and star wideout George Pickens were not pleased, to say the least.
With under 1:30 left in the fourth quarter and the Cowboys down by eight, Prescott took a snap out of the shotgun on second-and-1 and fired a pass over the middle to tight end Jake Ferguson that hit off his hands and bounced high into the air.
That made it easy for Alex Anzalone to get the interception and get the ball back to Tampa Bay.
Prescott seemed to be irritated post-game at an employee inside AT&T Stadium who called the loss “embarrassing”, although the Cowboys quarterback explained the moment post-game and said he was more annoyed it had become a talking point.
“When he said it, I just happened to look at him at that point and he looked away, and then I turned my head back, and he said something else,” Prescott said.
“That’s the part, just as a man of a person, feel free to speak your mind. Just speak it. Don’t cower away from the reaction you’re going to get.”
With the loss, Dallas made franchise history by allowing 375 or more yards in each of its first five games of the season.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was seen slamming his hand down in his AT&T Stadium suite while Pickens, even more frustrated on the sideline, slammed his helmet to the turf.
Two plays after the pick, Bucky Irving — who rushed for 165 yards and one touchdown — closed things out with a 22-yard run as the Bucs moved to 1-4 while Dallas fell to 2-3.
Pickens went for nine catches, 130 yards and a touchdown, but it was all for naught in a shocking loss on home turf.
Jones spoke to a media scrum after the game and gave credit to Tampa Bay while speaking his frustration over the final outcome.
“I, of course, appreciated any chance we might have had there near the end,” Jones told reporters after the game.
“But the Buccaneers really took it to us. In my view, they did it inside. That’s where the real damage was done, we’ll see. That’s really surprising to me. That’s what it is, we missed a great opportunity to build something here, but they really all the way, probably most all the phases, they won it tonight. … This is very disappointing, and I know it’s disappointing to our home crowd — it is to me.”
This article first appeared on The New York Post and was reproduced with permission.