CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle didn’t hesitate when asked what his postgame message was to the Dallas Cowboys after telling his former team to “buckle up” heading into Sunday’s 30-27 victory at Bank of America Stadium.

“They wasn’t buckled up,” Dowdle deadpanned.

Not even close.

Dowdle had a team-record 239 scrimmage yards against the team that chose not to re-sign him after the 2024 season, making him the seventh player in NFL history to have at least 230 scrimmage yards in consecutive games.

His 473 scrimmage yards the past two games smashed the team two-game record of 416 held by Christian McCaffrey and helped Carolina (3-3) reach the .500 mark for the first time since it was 5-5 in Week 10 of 2021.

Dowdle’s effort also opened up a conversation about who will start once Chuba Hubbard returns from a calf injury that has sidelined him the past two weeks.

“A great question,” coach Dave Canales said after Carolina improved to 3-0 at home this season with a road game against the 0-6 New York Jets next. “We’re going to figure that part out. But I know Rico is doing a great job, and he will be a big part of what we’re doing.”

The Cowboys (2-3-1) and their league-worst defense weren’t ready for Dowdle from the outset. Dowdle had 21 yards rushing on his first two carries and caught a 13-yard pass on Carolina’s fourth play to set up a field goal.

He had a 36-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Bryce Young less than two minutes into the second half to put the Panthers up 20-17. He celebrated that one by spinning the ball and then pretending to shovel dirt on a grave.

Burying Dallas wouldn’t be as easy as Dowdle bowling over defenders seemed. The Panthers needed a walk-off 33-yard field goal by rookie Ryan Fitzgerald to get the win.

That’s ultimately what Dowdle wanted the most.

“Definitely,” said Dowdle, who spent his first five seasons in Dallas after being an undrafted free agent out of South Carolina in 2020. “I’ve been saying all week the main thing is I just wanted to get that win.

“Big, big for me, but also big the organization. Getting to .500 and protecting the home field … just got to keep building.”

Dowdle admitted the game was “a little personal” after the Cowboys didn’t meet his financial demands following his first 1,000 yard rushing season a year ago.

Young, whose five touchdown passes in two games tied for the most he has had over that span since being the top pick of the 2023 draft, smiled when asked if he noticed the game meant more than normal to Dowdle.

“Yeah, of course,” he said. “Rico is a competitor. That just speaks to the dawg he is. We knew it was personal. We wanted to have his back. That’s our brother. … If it’s personal to him, it’s personal to us.”

It almost became historical. Dowdle was 17 yards rushing shy of becoming only the fifth player since 1970 to have 200 in consecutive games. O.J. Simpson did it twice. Earl Campbell, Ricky Williams and Jay Ajayi did it once each.

Dowdle’s 230-plus yards in consecutive games put him in the company of Jim Brown (Browns), Walter Payton (Bears), Marshall Faulk (Rams), Deuce McAllister (Saints), Josh Gordon (Browns) and Le’Veon Bell (Steelers). This from a back who had 33 touches, 103 yards and one touchdown in the first four games.

“I didn’t realize that part,” Dowdle said of the historical nature of his feat that included breaking McCaffrey’s single-game team record (237) for scrimmage yards. “But definitely special to be able to come here and get in the history books.”

Dowdle wasn’t perfect, though. He took full blame for a lateral from wide receiver Xavier Legette that turned into a fumble, pleading with Legette to toss him the ball on a play that initially looked like a bad decision by the receiver.

“That’s on me,” Dowdle said. “I told the coaches the same thing. [Coach] told me don’t make that stuff up.”

Dowdle’s storybook run that could land him in the starting lineup is something you can’t make up either. It’s something few, if any, anticipated when he signed a one-year, $3 million deal that could reach $6.5 million with incentives to back up Hubbard.

It certainly got the attention of the Cowboys.

“He told us to buckle up,” quarterback Dak Prescott said. “He got the last laugh.”

NFL Nation Cowboys reporter Todd Archer contributed to this report.