CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Rico Dowdle warned his former Dallas Cowboys teammates last week they'd better get ready and buckle up.
“They wasn't buckled up,” Dowdle said.
The sixth-year running back went over 200 yards from scrimmage for the second straight week and rookie Ryan Fitzgerald kicked a 33-yard field goal as time expired as the Carolina Panthers defeated the Cowboys, 30-27, in a wild back-and-forth game on Sunday.
Bryce Young completed 17 of 25 passes for 199 yards and threw two of his three touchdown passes to rookie Tetairoa McMillan to help the Panthers (3-3) improve to 3-0 at home.
Dowdle, who spent five years with the Cowboys before signing earlier this year with the Panthers, ran for 183 yards on 30 carries and caught four passes for 56 yards and a touchdown as Carolina avenged home losses to Dallas the last two seasons.
Dowdle's 473 yards from scrimmage over the past two weeks are a franchise record. He also became the seventh NFL player in the last 20 years to post back-to-back 200 yards games. His 239 yards on Sunday also set a franchise record, breaking the previous mark of 237, set twice by Christian McCaffrey.
“It was personal for him and we knew that. We want to have his back," Young said. "That's our brother and if it's important to him and it's personal to him, it's important to us.”
Trailing, 17-13, at halftime, Young found Dowdle alone along the left sideline for a 36-yard touchdown pass to cap a four-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to give Carolina its first lead of the game. He later threw a second TD pass to McMillan on a play the Panthers just put in this week.
“When we designed that play, he was last in the progression,” Young said. “And we ran it in practice and he was like, ‘I love this play. This is a great design,' And he told me, 'If you get back to me (on the route progression), I'm going to go win it.' It's great to see the buy in from someone who is last on the progression, but still loves the play.”
After Dallas punted the ball away with the score tied in the fourth quarter, Young drove the Panthers 71 yards in 15 plays, taking up up more than six minutes off the clock to finish the game. At one point, the Cowboys were trying to let the Panthers score to get the ball back, but rookie running back Trevor Etienne wisely went down after a first down before the end zone.
Young took a knee twice to set up Fitzgerald's winning kick.
Young was 3 of 4 for 25 yards on the final drive, including a huge 7-yard completion on fourth-and-4 to Hunter Renfrow to move the chains. Dowdle added 22 yards on four carries against the league's 32nd-ranked defense.
The Panthers outgained the Cowboys 216-31 on the ground, which proved to be the difference in the game. In the end, there was just too much Dowdle for the Cowboys to handle.
“Great job tonight. Great job last week," Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said of his former teammate. “Rico told us to ‘buckle up’ and he got the last laugh. We’ve got a hell of a group of running backs. I love my team. But I miss the guy. Rico’s a hell of a friend. I’m proud of him more than anything.”
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