Embarrassing. On Thursday Night, it was a feeling Dak Prescott was familiar with. But little did he know the consequences of that night wouldn’t be about what happened off the field, but about a moment in the aftermath. When a member of the crowd called Prescott out for the team’s performance, and the QB responded, reports suggested that it was an employee of the franchise, and he was later fired. And the incident has sparked bigger concerns about the way the team is handling things.

Radio host John Ziegler shared a video of a man who claimed he had made the comment. Ziegler initially said the man had lost his job.

“Dak Prescott apparently did indeed get a (black) Cowboys employee fired over this minor incident. And the guy handled it like a champ, making a very solid point about Prescott,” Ziegler said on X.

However, it was later clarified, both by Ziegler and by Fox Sports that the man wasn’t a Cowboys employee. He was a third-party contracted driver who yelled that the team’s effort was “embarrassing” as Prescott walked off, sparking a tense moment. 

However, FOX Sports later found that the man was not a Cowboys employee. John Ziegler subsequently admitted that the video might be fake or misleading, which means that there was no firing.

“Guys, unfortunately, I am now rather confident that this is a fraudulent post. I’m all for sarcasm, but people really need to make sure there is some indication they are joking. This TikTok post did not do that in any way. 🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️,” Ziegler posted on X, clarifying that the video might be fraudulent.

At the heart of the debate is Prescott’s reaction to the incident. The comment clearly upset Prescott, with a visible reaction on camera, as he continued to look back. While walking on, he pointed the person out to a Cowboys employee and said, “Tough guy, get his ass out of here.”

We get the fans’ frustration, especially after the team’s performance against Tampa Bay. They had the chance to get another win at home and improve their record against a team that had already lost all four of its games. And the way Prescott himself had talked about this team earlier in the season, fans believed they would be better this year.

But when the season kicked off, things didn’t look like they had changed. The defense still leaked points. The team couldn’t close out on games. If anything, it was the offense that had seemed to sputter. The same offense that had carried their hopes last year was making mistakes, and against the Bucs, it was on full display, with interceptions and fumbles proving costly. That’s why the criticism made sense for fans. 

It was also the reason why, when they heard that the same employee had been fired, they weren’t happy. But interestingly, the man who called Prescott out wasn’t even a fan!

Skip Bayless added some context to the situation on X, writing, “The guy who got fired for saying “embarrassing” to Dak as he walked to the locker room says he isn’t a Cowboy fan … but he spoke for EVERY Cowboy fan.”

As for Prescott, he addressed the incident later in the press conference. 

“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. That’s the part that, as a man or as a person, feel free to speak your mind, speak it, but just don’t cower away from the reaction you’re going to get.”

In high-pressure American football, star quarterbacks always cop criticism, but getting into verbal spats right in the stadium tunnel is rare. Dak later pointed out that fans have every right to feel restless when a team with Super Bowl dreams drops to a 2-3 record. He just expects people to talk straight to his face rather than throwing cheap shots and backing down.

He later acknowledged that the Cowboys should have won the game.

“We were definitely supposed to win this game, and in this league, you’ve gotta win the games you’re supposed to win,” Prescott said via dallascowboys.com’s Patrik Walker after the game. “When a winless team comes into your home stadium, on Thursday night, primetime 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.”

Now, the team is preparing to make major improvements before taking the field next week.

The Cowboys are set to make major changes ahead of their Week 6 game against the Green Bay Packers on October 18. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer highlighted the team’s mindset as it looks to recover from the disappointing defeat.

“When you are a coach, there are going to be things you’re going to correct,” Schottenheimer said after the game. “We are solution-makers. We’re not excuse-makers; we’re solution-makers. That’s what we’re working on really, really hard right now.

“We’re having the hard conversations. We’re looking at the film. We’re studying the areas [of concern]. Those conversations are really important, and we’re having them in all three phases, not just on defense.”