Todd Bowles had a much rougher moment on the sideline than his Buccaneers did on the scoreboard Thursday night.
After Tampa Bay sealed its first win of the season, a 24-16 victory over the Cowboys, cameras caught the head coach doubled over in pain and down on one knee as the final seconds ticked away. Amazon Prime’s broadcast showed the scene right after Alex Anzalone picked off Dak Prescott with just over a minute left to effectively end it.
The reaction set off concern in real time, especially with Bowles carrying the weight of a 0-4 start entering the night. ESPN’s Jenna Laine later said on X that Bowles had been hit in the stomach by a player’s helmet while the team celebrated the interception. Bowles said afterward that he was fine.
The Bucs needed the win, and they got it with rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels in place of Baker Mayfield. Daniels, filling in while Mayfield is expected to miss at least one more game with a dislocated thumb on his throwing hand, managed the offense cleanly and helped Tampa Bay avoid turnovers.
Bucky Irving was the engine. He ran for 165 yards, broke loose for a 72-yard carry that set up the go-ahead touchdown, and scored twice. Daniels also found Irving for a touchdown in the first half, then finished 19 of 25 for 189 yards as Tampa Bay rolled up 241 rushing yards.
For Daniels, it was a major step forward after a rocky debut, when he threw three interceptions in a 17-14 loss to Green Bay.
'Six months ago, if you would have told me that my first win would have been on a Thursday night, (Amazon) Prime football game, I don't know what I would have told you,' said Daniels, who threw three interceptions in a 17-14 loss to Green Bay in his debut.
'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.'
Tampa Bay still had to survive a push from Dallas. Prescott marched the Cowboys on a 99-yard drive and hit George Pickens for a 13-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, then later threw a second interception on a tipped pass that helped the Buccaneers close it out inside the final two minutes.
Bowles liked the response from his team, and he framed the win as the start of a new stretch rather than a fix-all.
'We lost the first quarter of the season,' Bowles added. '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.'
Dallas dropped to 2-3, another uneven night in an uneven start. The Cowboys offense was sloppy at times, matching a defense that has been up and down under coach Brian Schottenheimer.
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