Patrick Mahomes outdueled by Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott in AT&T Stadium debut
Texas native Patrick Mahomes has played a lot of football in the Lone Star State, but he played his first professional game at AT&T Stadium on Thursday in the Kansas City Chiefs’ 31-28 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
Mahomes threw for 261 yards with four touchdowns and could have had more yards if not for a couple of drops by his receivers.
Mahomes Magic was on full display when the Chiefs, who had been trailing by double digits in the fourth quarter, got back into the game with a 42-yard deep shot from Mahomes to former Texas Longhorn Xavier Worthy with just under four minutes remaining.
The pass came after escaping a sack by Dallas Cowboys defensive linemen Quinnen Williams and Donovan Ezeiruaku, with Mahomes scrambling to his right and making an excellent play to complete the throw.
Mahomes talked about what he saw on the big play, and why it wasn’t enough.
“They actually played a pretty good coverage,” Mahomes said. “And they got pressure and just scrambling, kind of got tripped up a little bit, and I was trying to get enough on it to get it to Xavier [Worthy], but he did a good job working back to me, because his route was across the field. So got enough to get it to him and make a big play in a moment. But it was, it was too late, honestly.”
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said getting a win against Mahomes was impressive.
“He made a couple of great throws tonight,” Jones said. “You just thought, well, that’s what you do when you’re out here playing against him. It’s what you got, and we all knew that coming in, and knew what kind of game it was going to be. But to everybody’s credit, our defense really mitigated some of his ability to make those kinds of plays, without a doubt it did.”
The Cowboys’ defense kept Mahomes and the Chiefs out of the end zone for the second and third quarters after starting the game by allowing touchdowns on Kansas City’s first two possessions.
Mahomes needed his defense to get him the ball back to have a chance to tie the game after his big play to Worthy set up a 10-yard TD pass to Hollywood Brown to cut the Cowboys’ lead to 31-28. But he never got the opportunity, with the Cowboys’ offense running out the clock to secure the victory.
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott talked about playing Mahomes after the game, giving respect to the two-time NFL MVP and three-time Super Bowl MVP.
“Hopefully we can play again on a bigger stage in a more meaningful game, sooner than later,” Prescott said. “He’s a hell of player. You watch that game right there, and we got the ball at the end of the game and I knew we couldn’t give it back to him. You know how good he is, and it’s on his resume and we’ve all seen it before. You saw the drive before that, their last drive, right, of Mahomes Magic. He’s an incredible player.”
The game was a virtual must-win for the Chiefs (6-6) who are on the outside looking in on the NFL playoff picture and already have losses to multiple teams ahead of them, including the Jacksonville Jaguars, Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Chargers.
“I mean at the end of the day, we just gotta win every game now and hope that’s enough,” Mahomes said. “So, I mean, we’re going to play a lot of good football teams coming up. If we’re going to make the playoffs, we’re going to have to win ‘em all, and that’s got to be the mindset when we step into the building,”
The Chiefs have made it to at least the AFC championship game every season since Mahomes became the starter in 2018, but they are in serious jeopardy of missing the postseason after coming up short against Prescott and the Cowboys.
This story was originally published November 27, 2025 at 8:11 PM.
