The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' four-game winning streak came to a sudden halt on Sunday at AT&T Stadium as the Dallas Cowboys pulled out a 26-24 victory. With the loss, the Bucs are no longer in the driver's seat of their playoff destiny with two regular season games to go in the 2024 docket. The Atlanta Falcons and the Bucs have an 8-7 record with Atlanta holding the head-to-head sweep. For the Bucs, missed tackles, penalties and turnovers decided the team's fate on the road. Tampa Bay had two giveaways in the second half, including a third quarter interception by Jourdan Lewis that changed the trajectory of the ballgame. Baker Mayfield heaved a deep lob to rookie Jalen McMillan, but Lewis managed to steal the ball away. He fought through the catch point and maneuvered his head around to come away with the ball at the goal line.
With just over two minutes to play, Mayfield led a methodical nine-play, 87-yard scoring drive that culminated in a Ryan Miller 13-yard touchdown at the 2:36 mark. Mike Evans ran a wheel route, drawing coverage away as the decoy. Ryan Miller ran a post route as he angled toward the goal post, and he was left wide open for the score. The Bucs' defense then managed to stop the Cowboys' offense from advancing, but Cowboys' cornerback DaRon Bland took the ball away in a game-sealing turnover.
"We committed way too many penalties and mistakes," said wide receiver Mike Evans. "They deserved to win today. They played like they were trying to clinch playoffs and we didn't."
Offensive Outlook
Baker Mayfield had another outing that displayed his grit. With multiple scrambles for first downs, Mayfield finished the game completing 31 of 43 passes for 303 yards, two touchdowns and the aforementioned interception at the goal line. The first touchdown of the day came on the ground by Bucky Irving on a two-yard run. On the drive, he showcased his shiftiness by forcing several missed tackles and accelerating downhill after elusive cutbacks. Irving rushed 16 times for 68 yards and a touchdown (4.3 average) and added three receptions for 24 yards, totaling 92 yards from scrimmage. With his seven rushing touchdowns this season, Irving tied Errict Rhett and Lars Tate for the second-most rushing touchdowns by a rookie running back in team history and now trails only Doug Martin (11 in 2012). Against the Cowboys, Irving forced six missed tackles in the first half alone per Next Gen Stats – a season high in a half – and added 38 rush yards after contact. Dallas rolled coverage to Evans to prevent plays down the field, which provided opportunities for the backs to get rolling. Overall, the Bucs rushed for 134 yards in the game, while averaging 5.8 yards per carry, marking their 12th 100-yard rushing performance in 15 games played this season.
Mayfield hit McMillan on an 11-yard scoring dart in the second quarter, the fourth score by the rookie wideout in the last three games. No. 6 rolled out of the pocket and McMillan found a soft spot in the zone and kept working across the end zone. Mayfield zipped the ball in low to his target to trim the deficit to 20-14.
Evans led the Bucs in receiving with five receptions for 69 yards, and surpassed Shannon Sharpe (815) for the 37th-most receptions in NFL history. He now needs three receptions and 182 receiving yards (91.0 yards per game) to continue his 1,000-yard and 60-catch streaks (10 seasons).
Defensive Snapshot
The Buccaneers' defense allowed just 31 yards on 20 carries to the Cowboys, ending Rico Dowdle's streak of 100-plus-yard games at three. Per ESPN research, the Cowboys' 31 rushing yards became the second fewest in a win in Dallas franchise history. The Cowboys were without starting quarterback Dak Prescott (injured reserve), but Cooper Rush had a career-best performance against the Bucs, completing 26 of 35 passes for 292 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions and a passer rating of 108.3. Initially, he operated out of a quick underneath dink- and-dunk passing attack to take advantage of off coverage and free releases, but as the game went on he found weapons downfield for chunk plays, including gains of 52 and 30 yards to CeeDee Lamb, 29 to Brandin Cooks and 26 to Ryan Flournoy. The Cowboys scored on five of six drives in the first half and managed to impose their will.
The Buccaneers' defense, which had allowed a league-low 15.0 points per game over the previous four weeks, brought down Rush once in the battle, which resulted in a split by Yaya Diaby and Calijah Kancey. Christian Izien led the team with 13 tackles and Lavonte David contributed eight tackles, including two for losses. Overall, Tampa Bay only allowed five conversions on 15 third-down attempts by Dallas, but the home team averaged 7.9 yards per pass play.
