The 2024 NFL season got even more challenging for the Dallas Cowboys with Jerry Jones confirming the final decision about Dak Prescott, who will undergo season-ending surgery for his hamstring injury. Now, the team’s offense is on Cooper Rush‘s hands.
On Monday, head coach Mike McCarthy confirmed that Rush will remain as the Cowboys starting quarterback during Prescott’s absence. And Jones immediately made it clear that he completely supports that decision.
“Because Cooper has shown that he has the capability to compete and win games. And he does give us our best chance,” Jones said on ‘105.3 The FAN’ when asked why the Cowboys are sticking to Rush instead of promoting Trey Lance. “Frankly that was really an out of character game for him based on what we’ve seen.”
In the Cowboys‘ first game after Prescott’s injury, Rush struggled by going 13-of-23 for just 45 yards in a humiliating 34-6 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at home. However, Jones warned the rest of the NFL that Rush’s latest performance doesn’t reflect his true potential.
Cooper Rush #10 of the Dallas Cowboys throws a pass in the fourth quarter of a game against the Detroit Lions at AT&T Stadium on October 13, 2024 in Arlington, Texas.
“He was not the Cooper Rush we know. A lot of things went wrong for us out there (Sunday). He can play better than that,” said Jones, who also expects seeing Lance get a fair share of snaps in the rest of the 2024 NFL season.
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McCarthy, Jones defend Cowboys’ confidence in Rush to replace Prescott
Speaking to reporters on Monday, McCarthy explained why the Cowboys still believe in Rush to be under center for the ‘Monday Night Football’ matchup against the Houston Texans in Week 11 of the 2024 NFL season.
“Cooper Rush will be the starter this week,” McCarthy said, via CBS Sports. “We’ve got a lot of faith in Cooper. Everybody believes in him. How can you not based off of how he has performed? That fumble and the recovery attempt was off to a rough start… I just felt like he never got into a rhythm.”
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McCarthy also agrees with Jones on giving Lance playing time
The Cowboys head coach and the owner seem to be aligned on their confidence towards Rush. Still, just like Jones suggested, McCarthy suggested that it won’t be a problem to give Lance more playing time.
“I thought he did some good things, and there are some things that he can learn from. It was good to get better,” McCarthy said. “It’s not (difficult to add Lance packages). Trey actually when he got in there ran the two-minute, no-huddle offense. That wasn’t just things that we put in for him. So he ran the same packages as Dak and Cooper.”
Trey Lance #15 of the Dallas Cowboys warms up prior to a game against the New England Patriots at AT&T Stadium on October 01, 2023 in Arlington, Texas.
Cowboys add depth at quarterback in wake of Prescott’s injury update
Rush may still be seen as QB1 with Lance as his backup, but the Cowboys signed another quarterback after Jones confirmed Prescott’s injury to have more depth at the position. And they did so by bringing back a familiar face.
Todd Archer of ESPN NFL Nation reported Tuesday that Dallas is signing veteran quarterback Will Grier to the practice squad. The 29-year-old, who was part of the Cowboys in 2021-22, was on the open market after being released by the Eagles on Nov. 7.
