Could the Cowboys stick with Rush?

Fans who took the advice of free NFL picks to oppose Dallas in the betting markets were immediately rewarded, as the wheels fell off in familiar fashion against Tampa Bay in their opener. The Cowboys were beaten 19-3 as they struggled to cope with the Buccaneer’s pass rush – and worse still, they lost Dak Prescott to a broken right thumb.

When will Dak be back?

A broken thumb may sound relatively minor, but as anyone who has ever thrown a football will tell you, an injury to the thumb of your throwing hand makes it all but impossible to control the throw.

Given Dak’s importance to the franchise, the Cowboys are being cautious about his return. He underwent a surgical repair, but while all the indications are that the surgery went well, the rehab process has some way to run. First, he will have to wait for the swelling to go down, and then work will begin on strengthening his thumb before he is able to start tentatively throwing the football.

Some optimistic prognostications suggested that he could be back for the Week 4 clash with the Washington Commanders, but that possibility has dwindled and his return is likely to be in the Week 5 game against the Rams or the crucial Week 6 matchup with the Eagles. But the Cowboys are a lot more relaxed about the date of his return, thanks mainly to one man.

Cooper and the rush

Cooper Rush has stepped up when his franchise needed him most, guiding the Cowboys to back-to-back wins over the Bengals and the Giants, and delivering the kind of solid, reliable performance that can calm the nerves of even the most nervous Dallas fan.

Rush played his college football at Central Michigan and was not selected in the 2017 Draft. The Cowboys signed him as an undrafted free agent not long after the draft and he has spent much of the last five years as a second or even third-string quarterback with the Cowboys and the Giants.

Despite his less-than-flashy resume, Rush has stepped up to one of the most pressurized jobs in football with the assurance of a regular NFL starter. Kellen Moore, the Cowboys offensive coordinator, has kept things simple and there has been a marked shift in the way that the offense works under Rush.

Without the athleticism or passing range of Prescott, Rush tends to make quicker, simpler passing plays –  and fewer of them. Against the Buccaneers, Dallas attempted 42 passing plays and 18 rushing. Against the Bengals, that switched around to 31-27, and it was 31-30 against the Giants. It is a less exciting way of going about their business, but it works, and as the season heads into the later fall and winter, it has the advantage of being a style of play that can be reproduced in all conditions.

It helps that the Cowboys have one of the best defenses in the NFL, with star players at all three tiers. DeMarcus Lawrence leads a deep defensive line, Micah Parsons and Leighton Vander Esch are dominant at linebacker and they have Trevon Diggs and Jayron Kearse in the secondary.

Selection headache?

In the short term, Rush’s strong performances take the pressure off the Cowboys to get Dak match ready. But if the team continues to function as efficiently as it did against the Giants and the Bengals, there will be a growing chorus of fans and pundits calling for Rush to be retained.

Is that at all likely? Given that Prescott is one year into a four-year, $160m deal, while Rush’s contract runs out next year, it would take a lot of flexibility and humility for the Cowboys to make the switch, and those are not qualities generally associated with this franchise. If Rush was a young quarterback, the situation would be less complex, but he is 29 – the same age as Dak.

Could Mike McCarthy make a compromise – whereby Prescott and Rush share game time – work effectively? Could the Cowboys replicate their recent style of play but with Prescott rather than Rush in the quarterback role? Rush’s success is an unexpected windfall, what matters next is whether the Cowboys can make the most of it.