Dallas City News

Monday afternoon brought with it terrible news for the Dallas Cowboys – quarterback Dak Prescott is set to miss multiple weeks with a hamstring injury. Trying to overcome a 3-5 record just became much more difficult for Dallas.

It remains to be seen exactly what the Cowboys are going to do in the wake of this news. There is an argument to be made that they should play Trey Lance, who they traded for just before the 2023 season officially began, given his potential and upside, but conventional wisdom suggests they will go with someone they know in Cooper Rush.

Maybe you are someone who does not know for themselves who Cooper Rush is and what his history is with the team.

Here is what you need to know.

Cooper Rush has filled in for Dak Prescott before and did so quite successfully

From an origin standpoint, Cooper Rush joined the Cowboys just one year after Prescott did. Rush was originally an undrafted free agent out of Central Michigan who the team signed in 2017 and he played so well in that year’s preseason that the team felt compelled to keep him around.

This whole process played a significant role in current Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore’s coaching career, by the way. Moore entered that season as Prescott’s primary backup and got beat out by Rush. By season’s end Moore had been dismissed from the roster entirely and one year later was the team’s quarterbacks coach. Yes, Moore was coaching the two players who ranked ahead of him in Prescott and Rush. Just one more year later (2019) he would be the group’s offensive coordinator.

Back to Rush though, he originally was moved on from by the Cowboys once Mike McCarthy took over the staff in 2020. McCarthy oversaw the signing of Andy Dalton who wound up playing significant time when Prescott was injured in that season, but eventually Rush (who had followed his former head coach Jason Garrett to the New York Giants for a cup of coffee before things fizzled out there) made his way back to Dallas.

Prescott had to miss a singular game in 2021 when the Cowboys visited the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday Night Football which served as Rush’s first start with the team. Dallas won that game, in large part due to the game-winning touchdown that Rush threw to wide receiver Amari Cooper. The legend was born.

Things came to a full head for Rush during the 2022 season opener when Dak Prescott injured the thumb on his throwing hand. The Cowboys lost that specific game to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Rush jumped in with Prescott set to miss about a month and a half.

During that time, five total games, the Cowboys went 4-1 which vaulted Rush to a different level of national fame. He hardly lit the offense on fire during that five-game stretch, but he did just enough to manage the offense while the all-world defense took care of things on their side of the ball. Prescott returned to a Cowboys team that was well in contention and the group went on to reach the playoffs and even won a postseason game, incidentally against those same Buccaneers.

Rush has not gone anywhere in the time since the Cowboys traded for Trey Lance right before the 2023 season began. Lance entered the NFL back in 2021 with high upside in the opinion of many, but things obviously fizzled out for him with the San Francisco 49ers. Given that the Cowboys are currently closer to a top 10 draft pick than a playoff spot there is an argument to be made that finding out what Lance has got to his game is a better effort and utilization of time.

For what it’s worth, 2024 is a contract year for both Rush and Lance.