Jalon Daniels is now 1-1 as an NFL starting quarterback, and he has his own poise, a robust rushing attack and some very timely big plays to thank for it.
Daniels' Tampa Bay Buccaneers overcame significant underdog status on the national stage Thursday night, defeating the Cowboys, 24-16, in Dallas. It was the Buccaneers' first win of the 2026 season after four straight one-possession losses. It was also the first win for Daniels, who is in uncharted territory as the first undrafted rookie ever to start at quarterback for the Buccaneers, and the first rookie quarterback of any stripe to start in the NFL this season.
Daniels was impressively efficient in his second start, completing 19 of 25 passes (76.0%) for 189 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions and a 110.2 passer rating. He was undeniably helped by a rushing attack that took advantage of the league's second-worst rush defense to gallop for 241 yards including a career-best 165 for Bucky Irving. The Bucs ran on 39 of their 65 offensive snaps, their most ground-heavy script so far this season.
"It was a plan to attack, not from a Dallas standpoint, from our standpoint," said Head Coach Todd Bowles. "When you've got a young quarterback, you've got to lean on the ground game a little bit more. I thought the offensive line took it upon themselves, as well as Bucky making some great cuts and some great plays to make that happen. And that made the game easier for Jalon, which was good to see."
Irving's big night included a 72-yard scamper on the first play of the second half that showed off all of his incredible tackle-evading skills. The Bucs scored one play later on Emeka Egbuka's 14-yard end-around. On the Bucs' next possession, Daniels found a wide-open Tez Johnson for a 64-yard completion that put the Bucs in position for Irving's one-yard scoring run, completing the pivotal sequence of Thursday night's game.
"Well, I would say it's a pretty good drive," said Daniels of the go-ahead march that started the second half. "You go out there and hand the ball off twice, then you get a touchdown. So, it was a great job. I think that the guys up front, they worked their tail off. And the fact that they were able to go out there and be able to open up those run gaps, being able to open up the holes for our running backs to be able to run through and be able to get touchdowns, I got to give hats off to the guys up front."
The explosive moments from Irving and Johnson marked the first time since last September in a win over Philadelphia that the Buccaneers had two plays from scrimmage of 60 or more yards, and just the eighth time that has happened in a game in franchise history.
"I think their work ethic is huge," said Daniels of his fellow young playmakers. "They go out there every single week, no matter what's going on, try to do everything they can to be able to understand the play that we're running in, why we're running, the intent of it and go out there and be able to execute it. So obviously we had a short week of practice, so we didn't really get the chance to be able to run as many reps. But I think that being able to have those walkthrough reps, being able to have those conversations as much as possible allowed us to be able to go out there and make those plays."
NFL wins with an undrafted rookie at the helm of the offense are rare, and the 419 total yards the Bucs put up are even rarer. Thursday's win marked just the ninth time in NFL history that a team has topped 400 yards of offense in a game while starting an undrafted rookie quarterback. Getting the ball into the hands of the team's explosive playmakers was the key.
"Offensively, I think that we went out there and [were] able to execute our game plan, giving the ball to our playmakers in space and allowing them to be able to make plays," said Bowles.
