Bucs Beat Cowboys 24-16 on TNF as Irving and Rookie Daniels Deliver First Win

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers earned their first win of the 2026 season on Thursday night, Oct. 8, beating the Dallas Cowboys 24-16 at AT&T Stadium on Thursday Night Football, ESPN reported. Running back Bucky Irving rushed for a career-high 165 yards on 21 carries, scored once on the ground and once through the air, and broke a 72-yard run that set up the go-ahead score, while undrafted rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels directed a turnover-free offense in his second NFL start.

Daniels completed 19 of 25 passes for 189 yards, one touchdown and a 110.2 passer rating as Baker Mayfield continued to recover from a dislocated right thumb suffered in Week 3, ESPN’s Jenna Laine and Todd Archer noted. Tampa Bay piled up 241 rushing yards and 419 yards of total offense, and the defense forced three turnovers, with linebacker Alex Anzalone’s interception of Dak Prescott with 1:22 remaining sealing the result after the Buccaneers had entered the game as the NFC’s only winless team at 0-4.

The Cowboys opened with a 70-yard touchdown drive capped by Javonte Williams’ 1-yard run, but their next seven possessions managed only 152 yards and seven first downs as a 10-7 lead flipped into a 24-10 third-quarter deficit, the Cowboys’ own recap acknowledged. Prescott finished 24-of-32 for 316 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions; George Pickens caught nine passes for 130 yards and a score, yet Dallas fell to 2-3 after what ESPN framed as one of the franchise’s worst recent prime-time losses against a winless visitor starting an undrafted rookie.

Irving’s 72-yard burst was the longest of his career and the longest Buccaneers rush since Ronald Jones II’s 98-yard run in 2020, ESPN reported, with 64 of those yards coming before contact. Wide receiver Emeka Egbuka scored on a 14-yard jet-sweep rush for his first NFL rushing touchdown and added six catches for 38 yards, while Tez Johnson hauled in a career-long 64-yard reception that set up Irving’s short scoring plunge, according to the Buccaneers’ Week 5 takeaways.

Daniels became just the fifth undrafted rookie quarterback in the common-draft era to win a prime-time game in his first or second career start, the team noted, after leading a 15-play, 73-yard opening drive that chewed nearly 11 minutes. Tampa Bay converted 7 of 13 third downs and recorded 24 first downs — its most of the season — while still committing 14 penalties, a messy win that nonetheless snapped four consecutive one-score losses and put the Bucs back in the NFC South conversation.

Dallas’s defense allowed 20 or more points for a 12th straight game dating to last season, matching a team record, and has yielded passer ratings of at least 99.1 to opposing quarterbacks in each of the first five weeks, ESPN reported. The Cowboys next visit Green Bay on Oct. 18; Tampa Bay hosts the Pittsburgh Steelers the same afternoon. For more sports coverage, see our Sports page.

Verification: final score 24-16, Oct. 8 TNF at AT&T Stadium, Irving 165 rush / 72-yarder / two TDs, Daniels 19-of-25 / 189 / TD / 110.2 rating, Bucs 241 rush / three takeaways / Anzalone INT, Cowboys 2-3 and Prescott/Pickens lines from ESPN (Oct. 8, 2026); Bucs takeaways, career context and third-down/first-down marks from Buccaneers.com (Oct. 9, 2026); Cowboys home-loss framing and drive splits from DallasCowboys.com (Oct. 8, 2026).