Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott was already disappointed following a home loss to the underdog Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night, but then a man working near the team’s locker room tried to rub salt in the wound.
“Embarrassing,” an unidentified man, who was apparently a valet car service worker, said while Prescott was walking by him on the way to the Dallas Cowboys locker room after the 24-16 defeat.
Prescott shot a stern look back at the unknown individual in a video that quickly went viral, and when the Cowboys QB turned his head to keep walking away, the man then added: “He heard me.”
Some online initially speculated that the man involved in the verbal confrontation with Prescott might have been a Dallas Cowboys employee, but those assertions were later debunked by reporters inside AT&T Stadium.
The quarterback was asked about his reaction to the situation during his postgame press conference.
“When he said it, I just happened to look at him, and at that point, he looked away,” Prescott said. “And when I turned my head back, he said something else. And so that’s the part that, just as a man or as just a person, feel free to speak your mind — just speak it. Don’t cower away from the reaction that you’re going to get.
“And so, if you’re saying it’s embarrassing, say it’s embarrassing. If you’re saying it to me, then say it to me. Don’t go back on it. So that’s all that was, and hate that it’s even being talked about, to be honest with you.”
The viral video led to some pointed criticism directed at Prescott online from social media users.
“It was embarrassing. He sucks and is overrated as hell,” X user @reflect_decide wrote. “Dallas will never win when it matters, with him.”
“Dak thinks people are scared of him (laughing emojis),” X user @bro_stro added.
“We saw that one video we know he can’t fight,” X user @Lakers4My said about Prescott, referencing a 2015 altercation the former Mississippi State QB was involved in during a spring break trip. “Last night just proved that Dak Prescott is a big pampered baby and that the Dallas Cowboys need to move on from him.”
Video of the Thursday night interaction between the car service driver and Prescott can be seen below.
The Buccaneers, who were 9.5-point underdogs at most sportsbooks prior to Thursday’s kickoff, stunned the Cowboys in front of their home crowd. Tampa Bay entered the matchup 0-4, and it was just the second NFL start for undrafted Buccaneers quarterback Jalon Daniels, who is in the lineup due to an injury to starter Baker Mayfield.
Prescott completed just 24 of his 42 pass attempts for 316 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions in the loss.
The Cowboys (2-3) will now try to regroup before facing the Green Bay Packers (2-2) on the road on Oct. 18.
“We’re going to make some decisions that we believe will give us the best chance to pick back up and play well next week,” Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “We’re five games in, didn’t plan on being 2-3. Disappointed by that for sure, but we’re just getting started. There’s a lot of football left, and we got to play better. We know that.”
