The injury Dak Prescott suffered to his right hamstring in Sunday’s 27-21 loss at Atlanta is going to keep him sidelined for several weeks. It’s the latest bad news for the Dallas Cowboys, who have lost three consecutive games to fall to 3-5 straight up and 2-5-1 against the spread.
Before leaving the loss to the Falcons, Prescott had completed 18-of-24 passes for 133 yards and one touchdown without an interception. Veteran backup QB Cooper Rush connected on 13-of-25 throws for 115 yards and one TD without a pick in relief of Prescott at Atlanta.
Rush found Jalen Tolbert for a four-yard TD pass with 1:28 remaining to cut the deficit to six, but it wasn’t enough to overcome three TD passes from Atlanta QB Kirk Cousins.
In eight games this year, Prescott has completed 185-of-286 passes (64.7%) for 1,978 yards with an 11/8 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He has 54 rushing yards, one TD and a 4.2 yards-per-carry average.
Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy would only concede that Prescott is ‘out’ of Sunday’s NFC East showdown at home vs. Philadelphia during his media session on Monday. However, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the Mississippi St. product is going to miss several games.
The good news for Dallas is that the 31-year-old Rush is 5-1 in six career NFL starts. In 2022, the former Central Michigan Chippewa led the Cowboys to a 4-1 record in five starts while Prescott was sidelined with an injury.
Rush played in nine games in 2022, completing 94-of-162 throws (58.0%) for 1,051 yards and five TDs compared to three interceptions. He also had one rushing TD.
Rush made his first career start during the 2021 campaign when he helped Dallas win a 20-16 decision at Minnesota. He completed 24-of-40 passes for 325 yards and two TDs compared to one interception.
In four games this season, Rush has completed 22-of-39 throws (56.4%) for 167 yards with one TD and one interception. He’s played in 30 career games, connecting on 60.0 percent of his passes for 1,786 yards with a 9/6 TD-INT ratio.
“It really doesn’t change anything with us. Even speaking with Dak earlier, this is about the quarterback room. We’ve always invested all the time and energy into the quarterback, Dak, that has the football,” McCarthy said. “So now it’s Cooper’s turn, and Dak will be part of that process. We’ll rally around him and make sure that we do everything we can to make sure that he’s prepared. We’ll just keep going about it the way we’ve gone about it.”
In better news, Schefter’s sources told him that star linebacker Micah Parsons “should be back” vs. Philadelphia after missing four straight games due to an injury. Also, WR CeeDee Lamb has a sprained AC joint in his right shoulder, but he might not miss any games.
“Just knowing CeeDee, I don’t see him not playing,” McCarthy said, “but that’s why you do the testing.”
As of Tuesday morning, most books had the Eagles installed as 7.5-point road favorites at Dallas. The total was 42 points, and the Cowboys were +285 on the money line.