DALLAS - Running back Bucky Irving rushed for a career-high 165 yards and scored twice as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers shocked the heavily-favored Dallas Cowboys 24-16 on Thursday Night Football, giving undrafted rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels his first NFL victory in just his second career start.
Irving averaged 7.9 yards per carry on 21 handoffs, the fifth-highest yards-per-carry figure in a single game by a Buccaneers player with at least 20 carries in franchise history. His 175 yards from scrimmage included a 72-yard breakaway run on the first play of the second half - the eighth-longest rushing play in team history - and a one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Irving also caught a five-yard touchdown pass from Daniels in the second quarter, the first time in his career he scored both on the ground and through the air in a single game.
The 165 rushing yards pushed Irving’s career total to 2,116 yards, making him the 13th player in franchise history to eclipse 2,000 rushing yards. He reached that milestone in the fourth-fewest games among those 13 players, needing 32 games. The performance also marked the most rushing yards the Cowboys have allowed to an individual opponent in Dallas since 2012.
Daniels was efficient throughout, completing 19 of 25 passes for 189 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions and a 110.2 passer rating. He was sacked once and added 23 yards on scrambles. The performance made Daniels the third undrafted rookie quarterback since 1950 to win in primetime in either his first or second career start, joining Pittsburgh’s Devlin Hodges on Oct. 13, 2019 and the Boston Patriots’ Tom Greene in the AFL on Sept. 17, 1960. He is also the first undrafted rookie quarterback to ever defeat the Dallas Cowboys.
A 15-play, 73-yard touchdown drive that consumed 10:58 off the clock in the first half set the tone. Daniels completed all eight of his pass attempts on the drive, becoming the first undrafted rookie quarterback to complete his first eight passes in a game since 1967. According to internal team records, the drive fell just one second short of being the longest touchdown drive by time in franchise history - the record remains a 10:59 drive against New Orleans on Sept. 18, 1994, which ended in a touchdown pass from Craig Erickson to Jackie Harris.
Wide receiver Emeka Egbuka scored the Buccaneers’ other touchdown on a 14-yard end-around, the first rushing touchdown of his career. Egbuka also led the team with six receptions. Second-year wide receiver Tez Johnson contributed a 64-yard reception, the longest pass play of the season for Tampa Bay and the longest of Johnson’s career. Johnson now owns the two longest receptions by a Buccaneer this season, with that 64-yarder paired with a 49-yarder against Cleveland in Week Two.
Tampa Bay finished with a season-high 416 yards of offense and 241 rushing yards as a team - the eighth most in a single game in franchise history. The Buccaneers have now rushed for 200 or more yards in a game 34 times and carry a 29-5 record in those contests. The defense held Dallas to just 50 rushing yards on 13 carries and won the turnover battle 3-0, scoring 10 points off takeaways.
Cornerback Jacob Parrish broke up four passes and Zyon McCollum added two. Parrish’s total gives him seven passes defensed through five weeks, tied for second in the NFL. McCollum held Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb, the NFL’s leader in receptions and receiving yards entering the game, to two catches for nine yards across 42 coverage snaps.
The victory was also a milestone for general manager Jason Licht, hired in 2014, who became the first general manager in franchise history to log 100 or more wins - regular season and playoffs combined - with the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay ranks second in the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game at 72.8 and second in yards allowed per carry at 3.28.