Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) leaves the field after an NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at AT&T Stadium, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Arlington.
Chitose Suzuki/The Dallas Morning News
Historically speaking, Cowboys fans were much more engaged in booing their own when they had great teams or were at least in the process of building those teams than they are now. They loved to boo Don Meredith at the Cotton Bowl in the mid-to-late ‘60s even though he took the team to two NFL championship games with Green Bay — legendary games in the forging of the league’s identity — but they rarely let the local squad have it these days despite years of playoff inactivity.
That’s what made Thursday night’s 24-16 loss at home to the winless Bucs feel so much different from recent Cowboy inadequacies under Brian Schottenheimer or Mike McCarthy or Jason Garrett. A desperate fourth-down pass in Dallas’ territory falls incomplete (not one of Dak Prescott’s better throws, not one of the line’s better protections) after Tampa Bay had rattled off 17 third-quarter points to two first downs for the Cowboys.
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They were loud and they were prolonged. Maybe they were directed at Dak or the entire enterprise, it’s hard to say. AT&T Stadium is just not made for booing despite some of the Cowboys’ shoddier efforts. First of all, depending upon the opposition, the visitors usually have anywhere from 5,000 to 25,000 fans in the building more interested in their team than the Cowboys. Not a huge Tampa Bay contingent Thursday but a “small, but ardent” group as Stephen Stills once called a Dallas Memorial Auditorium crowd I was part of.
Second, when things go badly, the Cowboys have two cards to play. The mariachis strike up “El Rey” and the large Hispanic contingent of Cowboys fans sounds its approval. Or a series of fan close-ups on the big screen (think a friendlier version of 1984’s Big Brother) and the crowd just gazes upward to see if they get their three seconds of fame.
The Cotton Bowl was (and mostly still is) just a football stadium, and the product on the field was all that mattered in 1967, and the Cowboys were good but not great enough right away, hence the frequent descriptions of “boo birds” in newspaper tales of that era.
There was also something that was considered an incident Thursday night that seemed like a lot of nothing, someone shouting “embarrassing” in the tunnel as Prescott walked toward the locker room. He thought it was a team employee at first but apparently it was not. He described why he didn’t think embarrassing was the right word.
“I feel like I’m discrediting the NFL if I use that and especially the great Todd Bowles and a great coached defensive team. But we are definitely supposed to win this game when a winless team comes into your home stadium on a Thursday night prime time game. We’re supposed to win that, so it sucks and it’s right up there close to embarrassing, but I don’t know if I would say that,’’ Prescott said.
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My app cut off after 19 minutes and he was nearly done providing thoughtful answers about his team’s predicament. But the Dallas offense only got 20 minutes, 39 seconds of playing time Thursday. So, yes, Dak talked almost as long as he played Thursday night, technically speaking.
That’s correct, the mighty offense of rookie Jalon Daniels and Bucky Irving kept the ball for more than 39 turnover-free minutes against the Dallas defense. Talk about a Not Ready for Prime Time unit.
One of the many Bucs penalties (nine committed by the offense) left Daniels facing a 1st and 20 at the Tampa Bay 15 after the Bucs had taken a 14-10 lead. Perfect opportunity for a truly retooled defense to tee off and make a play against a quarterback that had five interceptions in his last two starts (two against Green Bay, three against Utah in his final game at Kansas). Instead, following a 6-yard run to make it 2nd and 14, Daniels throws 64 yards to the most wide open receiver of the night, Tez Johnson, who is mostly a punt return man and third or fourth option at wide receiver. Three plays later it’s 21-10.
The Cowboys fumbled the next kickoff, setting up the field goal for the 24-10 score and then it was that next failed possession that initiated the booing.
Will we hear more? How bad is this team? And just how many minutes should Dak and Co. expect to get each week to try to save the day?
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The Cowboys ranked 30th in time of possession — 27:19 — after four games. This debacle will drop them below 26 minutes and, most likely, ahead of only Tennessee after this week.
Now we’re talking embarrassing. Now we’re talking futility for a team that truly thought it was going to win now with Dak and CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens in their prime, gobbling up $91 million in salary cap dollars this season (according to OverTheCap). But how much can they do when they don’t sniff 25 minutes of playing time?
I recognize time of possession is impacted by both offensive and defensive units. But allowing the Bucs to run the football for 241 yards is a cardinal sin. Finishing with one sack of a rookie quarterback (Mayfield and Daniels were sacked a league-high 16 times the first four games) is laughable. Playing eight games now without an interception is barely even playing football.
The Cowboys hit the road for their next two games. We shall see if the folks at the stadium find another magical way to engage the fans and distract them from Jerry Jones’ product on the turf.
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