One word chased Dak Prescott down the AT&T Stadium tunnel on October 8: Embarrassing. An employee working for a third-party contractor said it after a previously winless team, the Buccaneers, beat the Dallas Cowboys 24-16. Michael Irvin, who previously wanted an entire ESPN panel fired for debating whether Jameis Winston could outplay Prescott, sided with the employee and commented on Prescott. 

Irvin started his critique with love. He was the one, he said, who sat with the Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in Los Angeles and urged him not to bring in anyone else to replace Prescott. However, he believes the quarterback took things too far by allegedly getting the employee fired.

“I don’t like that he took that other guy’s job because he said it was embarrassing…It was embarrassing. So, don’t get mad at him,”  Irvin asserted on First Take, shared on X. “Don’t fight him. Go back on that football field and fight those damn guys on that field, not that poor guy that just shared his thoughts. His thoughts were all of our thoughts, everybody in Cowboys Nation. That was embarrassing.”

The incident Irvin is talking about happened after the Week 5 loss as Prescott walked toward the locker room. A clip shared on social media captures a voice from behind the camera calling the performance “embarrassing” while Prescott briefly turns to look at the individual before walking past.

He made the same case on his podcast, saying he had no issue with the employee. 

The box score backs Irvin’s point. Tampa Bay ran for 241 yards, and Bucky Irving alone piled up 165. Jalon Daniels, undrafted rookie in his second NFL start, completed 19 of 25 passes. It became the first game the Bucs won this season. 

Meanwhile, Prescott threw two interceptions, double his total from the first four games. But not all of that ‘embarrassing’ loss falls on him. The Bucs held the ball for 39:21, leaving Prescott’s offense just 20:39. 

Dallas left Thursday allowing a league-worst 168.4 rushing yards per game. But the reaction in that tunnel belonged to Prescott alone.

The four-time Pro Bowler was seen turning toward the voice, then pointed the man out to a team staffer: “Tough guy. Get his a-s out of here.” The employee seemed to be gone by the time the staffer arrived. 

The quarterback later clarified that while he believes the man was free to speak his mind, he wanted him to say it to his face. The clip has gone viral. So much so that head coach Brian Schottenheimer and Jones both fielded questions about it. 

Prescott would not call the loss that dropped Dallas to 2-3 embarrassing, only close to it. Irvin showed no such restraint. His words hit harder because he’s always stood by Prescott, believing he should be the one to end the Cowboys’ 30-year drought. The next answer comes October 18 at Green Bay.