Dowdle has come into this season with a gigantic chip on his shoulder, and ended up setting a franchise record in the process.

After coming into this season fresh off a 1,000 yard rushing season with the Cowboys, Dowdle wasn’t even offered a contract by his former team, which opened up his options.

From there, the six-year pro was forced to look elsewhere and signed a one-year deal worth up to $6.25 million with the Panthers.

October 12th had to be circled on Dowdle’s calendar, because we saw a sequence of games like we haven’t seen in a long time.

Last week against the Dolphins, he rushed for a staggering 206 yards along with a touchdown and collected 28 receiving yards for a total of 234 scrimmage yards. The following week against his former team, he rushed for 183 yards and 56 yards receiving and a receiving touchdown – and this time compiled 239 scrimmage yards – the most in a single game in franchise history.

It was a record-setting stretch for not just him, but the Panthers as well. Totaling 473 scrimmage yards in a two game stretch instantly breaks Christian McCaffrey’s two game record off 416 yards from when he did it in 2019.

"I didn't realize that part,'' Dowdle said. "But definitely special to be able to come here and get in the history books.''

Of course he didn’t. He was too busy stuffing his old team into a locker and making sure they realized what they missed out on.

Dowdle told his former team prior to kickoff to “buckle up,” and 239 scrimmage yards later and a 30-27 victory later, it became a hard reality check for the Cowboys.

"I've been saying all week the main thing is I just wanted to get that win,” Dowdle said. “Big, big for me, but also big for the organization. Getting to .500 and protecting the home field ... just got to keep building.''

"He told us to buckle up,'' quarterback Dak Prescott said after the loss. "He got the last laugh.''

And now, this recent stretch from Dowdle is giving coach Dave Canales a lot to think about with Chuba Hubbard close to returning from a calf injury.

"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.''

Carolina’s next game is against the New York Jets on October 19th with a 1:00 p.m. ET kickoff.