The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ four-game winning streak came to a painful end on Sunday night in Dallas, with the Cowboys creating two late turnovers to hold onto a 26-24 decision at AT&T Stadium. That outcome, coupled with the Atlanta Falcons’ win over the New York Giants earlier in the day, meant the Buccaneers lost control of their own playoff destiny.

Tampa Bay pulled to within two points on a 13-yard Baker Mayfield touchdown pass to WR Ryan Miller with 2:36 left in the fourth quarter, then got the defensive stop they needed to get the ball back with just under two minutes left. Unfortunately, a remarkable Mayfield pitch play to RB Rachaad White under heavy pressure turned into a disaster when Cowboys CB DaRon Bland was able to rip the ball out of White’s hands.

The Buccaneers committed the game’s only two takeaways, both in the second half. Trailing by nine points midway through the third quarter, the Bucs appeared to have a shot to get back into the game on Mayfield’s deep ball to rookie WR Jalen McMillan, but Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis remarkably wrestled the ball away in midair for an interception. That led to the fourth of Dallas kicker Brandon Aubrey’s four field goals, ranging from 49 to 58 yards, which ultimately made the difference.

The Buccaneers and Falcons are both now 8-7, and Atlanta holds an ironclad tiebreaker in the NFC South title race thanks to a head-to-head sweep earlier in the season. That means the Buccaneers have to win one more game than the Falcons over the final two weeks in order to capture a fourth straight NFC South title. Tampa Bay will finish with home games against Carolina and New Orleans, while Atlanta will travel to Washington in Week 17 before finishing at home against the Saints.

The Buccaneers fell into a 10-0 deficit in the first quarter and never managed to climb out of it. Dallas took the opening possession for a field goal and the Bucs followed by driving to midfield on their opening drive, but WR Sterling Shepard dropped a wide-open pass on fourth down and the Cowboys took the ensuing possession for a touchdown. Dallas led 23-14 at halftime and held on despite the Buccaneers piling up 411 yards of offense.

The Buccaneers have now lost all four of their prime-time games in 2024, following Monday night losses at home to Baltimore and on the road in Kansas City, plus a Thursday night game in Kansas City. Tampa Bay is 5-3 in road games this year, and Sunday night’s outcome marked the first time the team was losing at the end of regulation, given that their other two losses were in overtime.

Mayfield had another strong outing, completing 31 of 41 passes for 303 yards, two touchdowns and the one contested interception. He found McMillan on an 11-yard scoring strike in the second quarter, the fourth score by the rookie wideout in the last three games, before his connection with Miller in the fourth quarter made it a one-score game. After a team-record four straight games with 150-plus rushing yards the Bucs had another strong game on the ground, gaining 134 yards and averaging 5.8 per tote. Rookie running back Bucky Irving tallied 92 yards from scrimmage and scored his seventh touchdown of the season on a two-yard scamper in the second quarter.

The Buccaneers’ defense completely shut down what had previously been a potent Dallas rushing attack, allowing just 31 yards on 20 carries, though Ezekiel Elliott did score from one yard out in the second quarter to give the home team a 20-7 lead. The Cowboys were without star quarterback Dak Prescott but Cooper Rush filled in with one of his best career performances, completing 26 of 35 passes for 292 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions and a passer rating of 108.3.

The Buccaneers’ defense, which had allowed a league-low 15.0 points per game over the past four weeks, was only able to sack Rush once, that one split by OLB Yaya Diaby and DL Calijah Kancey. S Christian Izien led the team with 13 tackles and Lavonte David had eight stops, two of them for a loss. Tampa Bay’s defense did not allow a single third-down conversion in six attempts in the second half, but it was too little, too late after allowing five conversions in nine tries in the first half. Overall, Tampa Bay held Dallas to 15 first downs and 317 total yards but gave up too many big plays in the passing game, as the Cowboys averaged 7.9 yards per pass play.

To start the game, the Cowboys won the toss and elected to receive. Following a touchback, Rush started the game with a quick pass over the middle to WR KaVontae Turpin for seven yards. CB Jamel Dean closed quickly on a short pass to Lamb to make it third-and-two, but Rush moved the chains with a short pass over the middle to WR Brandin Cooks. Three plays later, on third-and-two, Rush dumped a short pass off to Lamb on the left sideline to move the sticks again. A screen to Lamb didn’t work, losing a loss of one, and a Dowdle run made it third-and-six. A flip out to the left to Dowdle only got one yard, but that was enough to set up K Brandon Aubrey for a 58-yard field goal.