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Dak Prescott vs. Cooper Rush 'QB Controversy': What's Behind Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones' Unlikely Wish?

Jones, part "Football Jerry'' and part "Huckster Jerry, is now at it again, proclaiming that he'd like to see a Cowboys controversy between Dak Prescott and Cooper Rush.
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FRISCO - Earlier this week, the rather non-flashy coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Mike McCarthy, joked that to better fit in around "America's Team,'' maybe he needed to add a little "drama'' to his life.

No need, coach. Your boss, Jerry Jones, is happy to perform that task.

Jones, part "Football Jerry'' and part "Huckster Jerry, is now at it again, proclaiming both ...

That injured Dak Prescott will come back from thumb surgery that anyone once imagined, and ...

That he can envision backup Cooper Rush winning enough games in Dak's place that there might be a "quarterback controversy.''

And that Jerry would love it.

“Wouldn’t it be something if you had a dilemma as to which way to go (between Dak and Rush)?''

Jones was asked if he'd really relish that controversy.

“Of course I would,'' he said with a grin. "I think like that.''

In a purely wins-and-losses sense, Jones' subtle point is understandable. If Rush - who this past Sunday completed 19 of 31 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown in his second NFL start, beating the Bengals in the final seconds - were to win on Monday at the Giants, and then were to win again against the Commanders ...

Well, "controversy'' aside, that would mean Jerry's Cowboys would sport a record of 3-1.

And "of course'' all in Cowboys Nation would like that.

But there is the other part of the equation, beyond the "Football Jerry'' wins and losses. Jones has never denied his attraction to being a football businessman , and how it ranks right up there in importance to being a football football man. Indeed, recently he remarked about how if the Cowboys are always on the front page, "We're doing our job.''

There is a grand unlikelihood of their being a QB controversy in Dallas, even though in Prescott's rookie year, he was embroiled in one while he played and Tony Romo was hurt - and "Dak's Cowboys'' won 11 straight games.

The locker room naturally gravitated toward Prescott and away from Romo, causing then-coach Jason Garrett to make one of the hardest decisions of his life. He benched his friend Romo (damaging their relationship, at least for a time) and stuck with the kid.

This locker room understands "Huckster Jerry.

“He wants y’all to be clicking and listening, too,'' running back Ezekiel Elliott said when informed of Jerry's remarks. "It’s all marketing. It’s all marketing.”

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