Rico Dowdle made NFL history in his revenge game against Dallas Cowboys

No player in league history has ever gone off on their former team quite like this.

Oct 12, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle (5) runs with the ball during the second half against the Dallas Cowboys at Bank of America Stadium. | Cory Knowlton-Imagn Images

When the Carolina Panthers signed Rico Dowdle to a one-year, $2.75 million deal this past offseason, they probably thought they were getting a solid backup behind Chuba Hubbard, nothing more.

As it turns out, Dowdle is much, much more than your average RB2 on an NFL depth chart.

Sunday's monster game against the Dallas Cowboys was Dowdle's second-straight performance with over 200 scrimmage yards, obliterating Christian McCaffrey's previous franchise record.

Not only that, Dowdle's numbers qualified his performance as the greatest revenge game in league history, according to NFL.com.

"Rico Dowdle's 239 scrimmage yards are the most by a player in a game versus a former team in NFL history."

Rico Dowdle and the Panthers OL had 15 runs of 7+ yards vs the Cowboys

Dallas did not have a single run of 7+ yards pic.twitter.com/8z36zZYzxf

— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) October 13, 2025

While his stats are impressive in any context, it's worth mentioning that the Miami Dolphins and the Dallas Cowboys are two of the worst run-defending teams in the league this year, ranking 32nd and 29th in rushing yards allowed per game.

The next team on the schedule isn't a whole lot better in this department, though. The winless New York Jets come into this week giving up 130 yards per game on the ground, which ranks 23rd.

Dowdle will get another soft landing in this department the following week when the Panthers host the Buffalo Bills, who are serious Super Bowl contenders but also rank 30th against the run.

Add it all up and we might be in the middle of an all-time four-game run by Dowdle.

The real test will come in Week 9 when the Panthers visit the Green Bay Packers, who rank first against the run at just 73 yards per game.

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