Dak Prescott vs. Cooper Rush: Cowboys Future Plan at QB
Are the Dallas Cowboys a better team with Dak Prescott at quarterback? To some, there was a debate as Cooper Rush guided the team to success due to the injury absence of Dak.
But there was no debate inside The Star, to the credit of all involved, as the idea of a "quarterback controversy'' was a largely contrived one. (With owner Jerry Jones, with marketing in mind, doing some of the contriving.)
So ... what's now and what's next?
First, credit to Rush; he did a great job as the starter, exceeding expectations by keeping Dallas in the conversation while Prescott recovered from his thumb injury.
But, since Prescott's return, the silly debate is over. Dallas has "looked like itself'' recently, with Sunday's 40-3 win over the Minnesota Vikings being the latest showcase.
And suddenly, in Dak's last four starts, the Cowboys are averaging 35.25 points per game. This stretch beats the averages in the 2021 (31.2) and 2019 (27.1) seasons.
Thanks to a statistical comparison by Bob Sturm, comparing the first six weeks of this year to the last four, you can see the rise in productivity of the Cowboys' offense across the board.
Prescott is entrenched here, with the expectation in Dallas that he will win a Lombardi Trophy - or, better said, that he will help Dallas win one. And for the rest of this year? Rush helps toward the same goal, whether it's because he played at a high level for a month or because of what he does to contribute on the practice field.
There is already speculation that Rush, in the final year of his contract, will be a starter in the NFL in 2023 ... somewhere outside of Dallas, of course. CBS' Tony Romo and others have stated that as fact.
As Dallas preps to play host to the Giants on Thanksgiving - a Giants team that already lost to the Cowboys this year with Rush in charge - we'll go with a "maybe'' there. The numbers are saying the Cowboys are right to believe in Dak Prescott as a No. 1 QB. And now Dallas has numbers to suggest it might be worth spending a little bit on a valuable No. 2 like Cooper Rush.
But make no mistake: Nos. 1 and 2 are not the same thing.
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