'Embarrassing': Worker heckles Cowboys QB Dak Prescott after loss
Clarification: The headline and text of this story has been updated to better identify the person who made the comment to Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.
Tensions were high inside the bowels of AT&T Stadium after the Dallas Cowboys lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-16 on "Thursday Night Football."
Local FOX television station KDFW reported a stadium employee said "embarrassing" as Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott passed him while walking back to the locker room on Thursday, Oct. 8, following the upset defeat that dropped Dallas to 2-3 on the season; it was the Buccaneers' first victory of the year. The reporter later clarified that they were told the worker was a "car service driver."
Video posted online features the word being said off camera and includes Prescott's reaction. Other video from the scene showed Prescott calling the individual a "tough guy" and asking for his removal.
"Get his (expletive) out of here," the quarterback said.
Cowboys QB Dak Prescott got cat-called by someone in the tunnel. Someone called out embarrassing!" Prescott heard it, said something back, and then pointed the person out to a Cowboys employee. pic.twitter.com/5qImPdjT1s
- Mike Leslie (@MikeLeslieWFAA) October 9, 2026
Prescott was asked about the incident after the game.
"I mean, not that they're wrong," Prescott began, adding "but the thing was you know, I just ... I don't know if it was an employee, if it was a driver, whoever it was, he's free to speak his mind."
Later, Prescott was asked if he viewed the person's actions as "disrespectful."
"You know when he said it, I just happened to look at him and at that point he looked away, didn't look, and then when I turned my head back he said something else," Prescott said. "That's the part just, as a man or as a person, feel free to speak your mind. Just speak it. Don't coward away from the reaction that you're going to get.
"If you're saying it's embarrassing, say it's embarrassing, if you're saying it to me then say it to me. You know what I mean? ... Hate it that it's even being talked about to be honest with you."
Prescott pushed back slightly when asked if the loss was "embarrassing," but did not dispute this was a game the Cowboys should have won.
"To use the word embarrassing is tough. I feel like I'm discrediting the NFL if I use that and particularly the Tampa Bay Bucs and a great Todd Bowles, defensive coached team. ... The plan and what (the Bucs) did tonight is the reason for (this loss). To say embarrassing I think I'd be discrediting them, but we were definitely supposed to win this game.
"This is a game that we were supposed to have on paper or whichever way you want to look at it. I think (Brian Schottenheimer) said it best in the locker room, in this league you got to win the games you're supposed to win. When a winless team comes into your home stadium on a Thursday night, prime-time game, yeah, we're supposed to win that. So, it sucks and right up there close to embarrassing but I don't know if I would say that."
Schottenheimer, the Cowboys head coach, was also asked about the incident in his postgame press conference. He did not dispute the comment was made by team employee when asked and said it was "motivating."
"We believe in what we're doing," the second-year head coach continued. "We believe that we have good players, good coaches. We believe the solution is in this room. We're going to get back to work."
An employee inside AT&T Stadium said embarrassing," after that Cowboys loss.
- Sam Gannon (@SamGannon87) October 9, 2026
Dak looking back to see who it was. #dallascowboys#cowboysnationpic.twitter.com/Xss7LkAO7F
Schottenheimer was also asked whether he interpreted the interaction, directed at the face of the team, as disrespectful.
"I didn't say I didn't take it as disrespect. You said that," Schottenheimer shot back. "I didn't say that. I said it's motivating. People are allowed to say what they want to say."
Prescott threw a pair of interceptions in the defeat, the second inside of the two-minute warning on a pass that should have been caught by tight end Jake Ferguson but instead deflected upward and eventually into the diving arms of Tampa Bay linebacker Alex Anzalone. Prescott completed 24 of 42 passes for 316 yards and a touchdown.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Embarrassing': Worker heckles Cowboys QB Dak Prescott after loss