When a starting quarterback goes down with an injury, that is season over for most franchises. The way with football is that backup quarterbacks rarely see any meaningful game time if the starter is fit.
Hence why, many say that having a good backup quarterback is essential, even if they do not see the field. Dallas had Andy Dalton a few years back, and he was ok, but in Cooper Rush, the Cowboys have someone better.
Since coming in to take over from Prescott, Rush has been everything fans, Mike McCarthy, and Jerry Jones wanted. A player who manages the game, doesn’t make mistakes, and most importantly, wins games.
What has been overlooked to a degree is that Rush is by no means a stranger to Kellen Moore’s system, having been a Cowboy from 2017 through to 2020. He then had a year with the Giants before returning to Dallas that same year.
There was no expectation from the outside that Rush could do much in Prescott’s absence, especially against Joe Burrow and the Bengals. But again, he proved a lot of people wrong.
He threw for 235 passing yards and a touchdown in the 20-17 win. Rush made a handful of superb throws, didn’t make mistakes, managed the game, and his connection with Noah Brown and CeeDee Lamb came to the fore.
So that was one game; no need to get too excited about that, right? Rush backed it up against a Giants team that many thought would give Dallas problems. In some respects, that did, but the only thing holding Dallas back was costly penalties and critical drops (surprise, surprise).
Once again, Rush was calm and composed in the pocket and made several crucial throws, in particular, the dart to Lamb on a fourth-and-four in the last quarter to keep what would be the game-winning drive alive.
Then his perfectly placed pass for Lamb in the end zone as the former Sooner did the number #88 proud with a one-handed catch.
In his two starts this year, Rush has had quarterback ratings of 95.5 and 98.2 (on a scale from one to 100, with 50 being average) per Pro Football Reference, while throwing for 450 yards and two touchdowns with zero turnovers. The offensive line is doing its job, only allowing one sack in both games, that helps too.
What the Cowboys wanted from Rush, he has delivered. He has won both games and will get another chance against the Washington Commanders on Sunday.
While there is no quarterback controversy in Dallas (sorry, Jerry), Rush is putting himself in the shop window of other NFL teams by doing the simple things well and managing the game which bodes well for Dallas.
In Rush we trust? As a backup, you better believe it.
