There were several points during the first two-plus quarters of football at AT&T Stadium in Arlington when it appeared that the locals were going from somewhat anxious to downright frustrated. No one was giving up, necessarily, not against an 0-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers team starting an undrafted rookie from Kansas, Jalon Daniels, playing in just his second NFL game. But no one was buying the Pollyanna lines that the Cowboys had been feeding about the team’s defense for weeks now, the view that a turnaround to a quality unit was underway but just needed a bit more time.
It did not look that way on Thursday. Perhaps the clearest example came with just a bit more than six minutes to play in the third quarter, when the Cowboys strung together two very good defensive plays and pushed the Bucs into a third-and-21. But the Cowboys’ still nonexistent coverage unit allowed a 21-yard pass from Daniels to Emeka Egbuka for the first down.
‘Boo Birds Are Chirping’
After watching DaRon Bland fall down and give up a 64-yard completion, and watching Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving to slide through the defense like a hot knife through butter, the home crowd, and indeed some of the media covering the team, had seen enough.
From Jane Slater, who covers the Cowboys for the NFL Network.
And RJ Choppy of 105.3 The Fan in Dallas.
And former Cowboys receiver, now a DLLS Cowboys analyst, Jesse Holley.
And analyst Connor Livesay, formerly of PFF …
Cowboys High Hopes Fading
This is just a sampling, of course, and the real sentiment, the real frustration was in the stands, where paying fans watched the Cowboys fall behind, 24-10, despite Vegas picking them as 9-point favorites.
The Cowboys entered the game on Thursday night hopeful of putting together some momentum, something that has been especially difficult to manufacture for this franchise over the past two years. The Cowboys came in with just one winning streak in 23 games going back to late 2024–the three games Dallas won in November of last year, culminating on Thanksgiving against the Chiefs. That was just not what was expected for a team that came into the year hyping up its own Super Bowl chances.
On Thursday, through three quarters, at least, the locals were making their displeasure known.
Cowboys Get Backlash From Home Fans During ‘Thursday Night Football’