Panthers running back Rico Dowdle kicked off a week of smack talk when he announced that his former Cowboys teammates would need to “buckle up” for their meeting Sunday at Bank of America Stadium.
After ripping off a career-high 234 yards from scrimmage- well over half of his team’s total net yardage- in Carolina’s 30-27 win, Dowdle got the last word, too, in giving his assessment of how the reunion went.
“They wasn’t buckled up.”
Billed as “Rico’s Revenge” after the 27-year-old spent his first five seasons in Dallas, things were all hugs and handshakes before the game started, with Dowdle laughing and fraternizing with several of his former Dallas mates during warmups.
The onetime undrafted free agent out of South Carolina downplayed his earlier trash talk, though, as anything other than friendly banter.
“I know I said those comments. I talked to a couple guys out there, and they know I meant no harm by it. That’s me,” he explained in his postgame comments.
“It’s all friendly. It’s all love at the end of the day.”
During the day, however, Dowdle delivered plenty of the bruising, hard-nosed hits that Cowboys fans had seen when he was wearing the star, even if it was a short-lived taste. Dowdle wasn’t christened as the Cowboys’ bellcow back until Thanksgiving Day 2024; he’s played in 13 games since then (seven for Dallas, six for Carolina) for a total of 1,149 rushing yards.
“There’s a lot that went on in those five years while I was there,” Dowdle said, “but I’d definitely say it was a little personal. Just wanted to get the win and have a great performance on my end.”
In becoming just the seventh player since 1970 to post back-to-back games with 225 or more scrimmage yards- and the most of anyone ever who was playing their former team- Dowdle did very little wrong on Sunday…
…except cause a near-catastrophe for Carolina that might have dramatically changed the outcome of the game. Dowdle admitted he was the one who called for Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette to lateral him the ball on a late-second-quarter play that almost gave Dallas a shot at ending the half with points instead of Carolina.
But even that blooper eventually went the Panthers’ way, and Dowdle was able to laugh about it afterward.
“‘Don’t make [expletive] up,’” Dowdle said the coaches told him of the improvised moment.
But the same rule certainly won’t apply to Dowdle and his making up of bulletin-board material. Because, as the Cowboys can now attest, he’s obviously very capable of backing it up.
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