On Nov. 1, 2020, the Cowboys played a Sunday Night Football game in Philadelphia without starting quarterback Dak Prescott. It could not have gone worse. The Cowboys lost 23-9 as then-rookie Ben DiNucci played one of the all-time ugly games by a quarterback.
That ended up being DiNucci’s one and only NFL start, as Garrett Gilbert beat out Cooper Rush to start the next week against the Steelers.
Fast forward two years, and the Cowboys are in much better shape with Rush at quarterback for Sunday Night Football against the Eagles. Rush is 4-0 this season in Prescott’s stead, and the starting quarterback will miss at least one more week as he continues to recover from a surgery on his right thumb.
McCarthy downplayed the idea that Rush’s play has affected the timeline for Prescott’s return.
“I don’t think so,” McCarthy said Wednesday, via Schuyler Dixon of the Associated Press. “You’ve got to trust the medical process. This is a 17-game season. That was my immediate response. I know Dak didn’t want to hear it. You’ve got to make sure that he’s right for the long haul, too. Not that I’m saying we’re being conservative, because that doesn’t really line up with him the way he approaches preparing to play. This really is following the medical timeline, and he’s doing all of the things you could possibly do and more to get ready. I don’t think it would change from my view.”
Rush, though, has exceeded the Cowboys’ expectations, whether they will acknowledge that publicly or not. Although the Cowboys are only 27th in total offense, after leading the league a year ago, Rush has done what he’s needed to do with a 61.0 completion percentage, four touchdowns and no interceptions. He has taken seven sacks in five games, including the season opener when he replaced the injured Prescott.
“I got a tremendous amount of confidence in Cooper Rush,” McCarthy said. “I think the most important focus for Cooper is to stay true to the plan. I think that’s huge strength of his. We’re not going to ask him to go out there and throw it 60 times a game and those types of things. He’s very, very intelligent, instinctive aware and their defense is playing at a high level, too. So there’s definitely some schematic challenges, particularly first and second down. So we got to be on top of that. Pressure is up compared to some teams we’ve played in the past. So we got to be on top of that. Cooper is just going to stay within himself.”
