The Bucs came into Sunday night’s game against the Cowboys as winners of four straight games since the bye week and were looking to make it five in a row, which would get them a step closer to locking up a fourth straight NFC South title. But to keep the streak alive and keep the pressure on the Falcons – who won earlier Sunday – the Bucs were going to have to shake off their primetime woes against a Cowboys team that was eliminated from playoff contention earlier in the day.

Tampa Bay came into Sunday Night Football with an 0-3 record in primetime this year, having lost to the Falcons on Thursday Night Football, as well as the Ravens and Chiefs on Monday Night Football. And as it turned out, those same primetime Bucs – or perhaps an even worse version – showed up to AT&T Stadium for Sunday’s game.

Backup quarterback Cooper Rush largely did whatever he wanted for the Cowboys offense, and he certainly did enough to get into range for Brandon Aubrey, who made field goals from 58, 49, 58 and 53 yards out on the night. The Tampa Bay defense couldn’t live up to what it had been doing since the bye, and the offense was even more disappointing. Drops, penalties and badly taken sacks killed several drives and the group only got going when it was too late, leading to a 26-24 loss.

The loss drops Todd Bowles and his team to 8-7, and Atlanta now leads the division again via tiebreaker with two weeks to go.

Here’s a recap of all the action from a disappointing Sunday night at Jerry World:

Cowboys 26, Bucs 24

Bucs WR Sterling Shepard – Photo by: USA Today

The Cowboys elected to take the ball first and came out throwing, working their way down the field with short passes before Brandon Aubrey (as he’s grown used to doing) nailed a 58-yarder to put the Bucs in an early hole after a 10-play, 30-yard field goal drive that took 5:54 off the clock.

The Bucs offense began its night by erasing an early 2nd & 16 with a 14-yard pass from Baker Mayfield to Jalen McMillan and a third-down conversion from Mayfield to Payne Durham, who was starting in place of the injured Cade Otton.

But after Mayfield mishandled a snap and threw incomplete on a 3rd & 3 at the Dallas 48-yard line, Tampa Bay went for it on 4th & 3 only for Sterling Shepard to drop a pass that hit him right in the chest. That gave the ball over to Rush and the Cowboys right at midfield.

Dallas’ offense responded with its first two chunk gains of the night, with Turpin running up the middle for 12 yards before Rush found Brandin Cooks for 29 yards to the Tampa Bay 11. Todd Bowles’ defense got into a favorable situation from there, forcing a 3rd & 9 only for Jalen Tolbert to beat Lavonte David for a 10-yard touchdown to put the Cowboys up 10-0 with 2:49 left in the opening quarter.

The Bucs offense didn’t fare any better on its next possession, going three-and-out before punting the ball right back to the Cowboys. Through two drives, Mike Evans had zero targets and Tampa Bay had just two rushing attempts.

After the first quarter came to an end with Dallas leading 10-0, Tampa Bay’s defense got off the field on 3rd & 8 to stop the bleeding a bit and give Mayfield and the offense a chance to cut into the early deficit.

Bucs RB Bucky Irving – Photo by: Jeffrey Jones/PR

Starting from their own 43 after a Dallas penalty on the punt, Mayfield finally looked Evans’ way and the future Hall of Famer made a spectacular 26-yard catch to the 28-yard line. Two plays later, Bucky Irving took the ball 15 yards to the 10, then got eight more to the 2-yard line. From there, he broke a tackle for a 2-yard touchdown to get Tampa Bay within 10-7 early in the second quarter.

The Cowboys offense immediately responded with a big play of its own, with Rush finding CeeDee Lamb for a 34-yard gain despite throwing into double coverage. But a miss by Rush on an eventual 3rd & 5 forced Dallas to settle for three again, with Aubrey connecting from 49 yards out to extend the lead to 13-7.

The Bucs went right back to Irving to start their next drive, and the rookie got 28 yards over five carries to get them moving. But a McMillan drop cost the offense a big gain deep into Dallas territory, then Mayfield took a bad sack on third down to force another punt and keep the game at 13-7 with 4:14 left before halftime.

Bowles’ defense couldn’t get a stop on the Cowboys’ next possession, with Christian Izien missing a tackle on a 3rd & 9 before a 52-yard catch by Lamb to the Buccaneer 11 just before the two-minute warning. Officiating didn’t help, with no call coming when Lavonte David was tackled on a blitz nor when Lamb pushed off Zyon McCollum (who was called for a hold) on the big gain. From there, Lamb picked up 11 more yards to set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Ezekiel Elliott that put the Cowboys up 20-7.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

With 1:45 to go before the break and the Bucs set to receive the second-half kickoff, the offense had a chance to double up and get back in the game. Mayfield went right to work, finding Evans for 15 yards before connecting with Shepard for 20 over the middle of the field. After Evans got 15 more yards and Durham added six, White converted a 3rd & 4. One play later, Mayfield found McMillan for an 11-yard touchdown to get within 20-14.

Because Todd Bowles called a timeout with 54 seconds left after the offense picked up a first down, the seven-play, 71-yard drive did only take 57 seconds, leaving 48 seconds for the Cowboys, who had three timeouts to work with. That immediately came back to hurt as Dallas picked up 21 and 14 yards on its first two plays of the next drive. Aubrey eventually hit another 58-yard field goal to push the lead back to two scores at 23-14 heading into halftime.

After Tampa Bay got to 2nd & 9 at the Dallas 25 to start the second half, a holding penalty on Luke Goedeke and a Mayfield fumble that lost another 20 yards led to an eventual punt on 4th & 40.

Ryan Flournoy got the next drive started with a 26-yard catch, and even if the drive didn’t go much further than that, it still led to points thanks to Aubrey, who made a 52-yard field goal to make it a 26-14 advantage for the Cowboys with 6:33 left in the third quarter.

Nothing was coming easy for Tampa Bay on its next drive, but a couple of key third-down conversions – a 6-yard catch by McMillan on 3rd & 6 and a 17-yard catch and run by White on 3rd & 10 – kept the possession alive. But Mayfield took another bad sack after that, and the Bucs ended up settling for a 45-yard Chase McLaughlin field goal to get within 26-17 inside the final minute of the third.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

The Cowboys killed about three minutes to start the fourth before punting the ball away. But with Trey Palmer deciding to catch the punt at the 5-yard line and Christian Izien getting called for an illegal blindside block, Mayfield and the offense had 97 yards to go. They ultimately went nowhere and had to punt the ball away again, down two scores with just over nine minutes to play.

Dallas killed about a minute and a half with its next possession before Bryan Anger pinned Tampa Bay at its own 9-yard line with 7:32 to go, down two scores.

Mayfield ran for 18 yards to get the drive going, then found Trey Palmer for 27 yards on 3rd & 10 to keep things going. But on the next play, Mayfield threw deep for McMillan and was intercepted by Jourdan Lewis, who ripped the ball out of McMillan’s hands as the two went to the ground at the goal line. With that, the game was just about over.

It almost wasn’t, though, as Rush threw the ball right to J.J. Russell… only for him to drop what would’ve been a game-changing interception. The Bucs did force a three-and-out, but they still found themselves down two scores when they got the ball back with 4:43 to go.

The Tampa Bay offense had to go from its 13-yard line, and it finally found success with the hurry-up offense. Mayfield completed seven straight passes and ran for a first down on the drive, which got down to the Dallas 13 with 2:43 to go. One play later, Mayfield found a wide-open Ryan Miller for a 13-yard touchdown to get the Bucs within 26-24 with 2:36 to go.

Needing a stop, the Bucs defense got off to a good start. Tykee Smith dropped Turpin for a loss of one on first down, which is where Bowles called his second timeout. A short pass to Lamb brought up the two-minute warning, with the Cowboys set to face a 3rd & 6 on the other side. Rush found Jake Ferguson on that third down, but after he broke one tackle, Vita Vea was there to drop him short of the sticks. The Bucs called their final timeout with 1:52 to go, and after Palmer returned the punt to the 26, Mayfield and the offense had 1:40 to get into field goal range for McLaughlin.

It only took one play for the game to be decided. Mayfield avoided a sack and pitched the ball forward to White, but as White was being tackled, DaRon Bland stripped the ball from him for a game-ending turnover. With that, the Cowboys won 26-24 and the Bucs dropped to 0-4 in primetime games this season.

Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: USA Today

Baker Mayfield had another uneven night, finishing 31-of-43 for 304 yards and two touchdowns while also throwing an interception and running into too many sacks. He found Mike Evans five times for 69 yards and Jalen McMillan five times for 57 yards and another touchdown. In total, Mayfield completed passes to nine different receivers in a losing effort. He also ran three times for 42 yards.

Bucky Irving ran 16 times for 68 yards and a touchdown and caught three passes for 24 yards, but he was a n0n-factor as the game wound down due to the deficit.

The Tampa Bay defense showed little resistance for much of the night, allowing Cooper Rush to complete 26 of his 35 passes for 292 yards and a touchdown. Dallas kicker Brandon Aubrey really was the difference, though, connecting on three field goals from 50+ yards in addition to a 49-yarder.

The Bucs (8-7) are no longer control their own destiny in the NFC South race, as they’ll need help elsewhere to retake the division from the Falcons. Tampa Bay returns home next Sunday to host the Panthers (4-11). Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m.