Bucky Irving, Rookie Jalon Daniels Lift Buccaneers Past Cowboys for First Win of the Season

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won for the first time this season on Thursday night, beating the Dallas Cowboys 24-16 at AT&T Stadium behind a career-high rushing performance from running back Bucky Irving and a turnover-free outing from rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels, who was making just his second NFL start in place of the injured Baker Mayfield. The result, detailed in the league's official game summary, moved Tampa Bay to 1-4 and dropped Dallas to 2-3 in a game that was broadcast nationally on Amazon Prime Video.

The numbers behind the win

Irving carried 21 times for 165 yards, the longest a 72-yard burst that set up a go-ahead touchdown, and scored twice, once on the ground and once on a 5-yard touchdown catch from Daniels, according to the official box score. Daniels finished 19 of 25 passing for 189 yards and a touchdown without an interception, directing an offense that piled up 241 rushing yards as a team. Wide receiver Tez Johnson needed only one catch to produce 64 yards, and Emeka Egbuka added a 14-yard touchdown run on a jet sweep. Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott threw for 316 yards and a touchdown but was intercepted twice, his first multi-interception game since the season opener, with linebacker Alex Anzalone sealing the win with a pick in the final two minutes. Cowboys receiver George Pickens caught nine passes for 130 yards and a touchdown, while running back Javonte Williams scored on a 1-yard run in the first quarter that gave Dallas its only lead of the night. Attendance at AT&T Stadium was 92,351.

Filling in for an injured franchise quarterback

Daniels, an undrafted rookie out of Kansas, was thrust into the starting role after Mayfield suffered a dislocated thumb on his throwing hand, an injury that is expected to keep the veteran out for at least one more week. Daniels' first start, a 17-14 loss to Green Bay the previous week, was shakier: he threw three interceptions, as the Associated Press recounted in its account of Thursday's game. Against Dallas, Daniels avoided turnovers entirely while Irving did the heavy lifting on the ground, with the pair combining for all four Tampa Bay touchdowns. The team's injury report had listed Mayfield as out for a second straight week, leaving the offense in the hands of a player who had never taken an NFL snap before late September.

Left tackle Tristan Wirfs was sidelined in the second half by cramps, adding to the list of players the Buccaneers have had to work around this season. The win came one week after Tampa Bay fell to 0-4 for the first time in 13 years, a stretch that had raised questions about a roster many expected to compete for the NFC South title. Daniels, who went unselected out of Kansas in this year's draft, picked up his first career win as a starter, a game the Buccaneers themselves framed as a milestone in the team's own recap of the game, which featured a postgame press conference titled simply "First-Career Win."

"Six months ago, if you would have told me that my first win would have been on a Thursday night, Prime football game, I don't know what I would have told you," Daniels said after the game. "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."

A rough night continues for Dallas

For the Cowboys, the loss extended an uneven start under second-year coach Brian Schottenheimer. Dallas committed costly turnovers and lost field position repeatedly, including a lost fumble by return man KaVontae Turpin that set up a Tampa Bay field goal. Receiver CeeDee Lamb, who caught 17 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown the previous week against Houston, was held to two catches for 9 yards on five targets before exiting with a quadriceps injury. Cornerback Joey Porter Jr., recently acquired in a trade from Pittsburgh, was a late scratch in what was to have been his second appearance for Dallas. Left tackle Tyler Guyton also left the game with a back issue, and defensive back Alijah Clark did not return after a first-half hamstring injury.

A separate box score of the game shows Dallas was outgained 419 total yards to 366 and was flagged seven times to Tampa Bay's 14 penalties, an unusually penalty-heavy night for the home team. Schottenheimer did not dispute the slow start to his team's season. "I didn't plan on being 2-3, disappointed by that for sure," he said. "But we're just getting started. There's a lot of football left and we're gonna play better. We know that."

What happens next

Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles framed the win as the start of a longer climb rather than a turning point on its own. "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. So we started the second quarter tonight. It's a long way to climb out, but at the same time, we're upbeat and if we played as hard and played as effective, we'll be OK." Tampa Bay returns home to face the Pittsburgh Steelers on October 18, with Mayfield's status for that game still to be determined. Dallas travels to Green Bay on the same date looking to stop a skid that has left a roster built around Prescott and Lamb below .500 through five weeks. For Daniels, an undrafted rookie who entered the season buried on the depth chart, Thursday's win offered the clearest evidence yet that the Buccaneers' offense can function without its highest-paid player under center, at least for one more week.