Dak Prescott says he wants to feel like an “A plus” before returning, but the Dallas Cowboys will now take their starting quarterback at a good “C minus.”
A, B, C - you’re in the top three.
The NFL’s eagerly awaited Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles Sunday Night game was a wonderful reason to take a few Advil PMs and fall asleep in the middle of the living room. Before halftime.
The Cowboys tried to squeeze out some more of that CRUSH time magic, and were at last crushed instead.
The Cowboys fell behind 20-3 at the half, made a game of it in the fourth quarter, but the backup quarterback got ‘em. It’s amazing it took this long.
The undefeated Philadelphia Eagles remain just that as they defeated Cooper Rush and the Cowboys 26-17.
Dak, your right thumb is now healed.
Sunday night’s result is the first Cowboys loss to an NFC East opponent since they lost to the New York Giants in the regular-season finale to end the 2020 season. Dak Prescott didn’t play in that game either because of injury.
It cannot be screamed and shouted loudly enough that Rush’s time as the starting quarterback saved their season.
The Cowboys lost their starting quarterback to an injured thumb near the end of the season opener against Tampa Bay on Sept. 11.
The immediate projection was that they would be lucky to win a game without him.
The Cowboys will finish a stretch without Dak with a 4-1 record, and remain in the hunt for what is now a suddenly deep NFC East.
Free Starbucks drinks for everybody.
Dak threw passes on the field before Sunday night’s game in Philadelphia, and he looks close.
However “close” he may be, Sunday night’s performance by the Cowboys against the Eagles pushed him to the “Yeah, you’re good” status.
Something will have to go terribly wrong for Dak not to return next week when the Cowboys return home to host the Detroit Lions. “Terribly wrong” as in both his right and left arms fall off.
CRUSH time should officially be switched OFF.
Rush lost for the first time as an NFL starting quarterback. He’s now 5-1.
In the first half, the Cowboys fell behind 20-0. Rush’s passer rating was an impressive 1.0; not sure how that figure computes, but the mathematician in me says it’s not good.
In the first 30 minutes, Rush completed 5-of-16 passes for 36 yards with two interceptions. Those are his first and second interceptions of the season.
Down 14-0 in the second quarter, Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy slammed on the “To Heck With it” button and went for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 34-yard line.
(The previous play should have resulted in a first down reception by receiver CeeDee Lamb, but McCarthy mysteriously elected not to challenge an incorrect spot).
On the fourth down play, Rush’s rollout pass attempt went nowhere.
The third quarter, however, and some of the fourth quarter, the Cowboys and Rush who played so well in the previous four games did return.
They made it a game.
Had a few things in the first half gone their way, most notably a ridiculous catch by receiver Noah Brown in the end zone in the final minute, not been reversed, they may have taken a lead.
Instead, they cut the deficit to 20-17 in the fourth quarter, but the Eagles are undefeated for a reason.
They answered with a fourth-quarter touchdown drive, and then picked off another Rush pass that was not entirely his fault.
Rookie left tackle Tyler Smith was beat, and an Eagles defender prevented Rush from stepping into what would have been a deep pass to a wide open CeeDee Lamb that looked like it would have been a touchdown.
The pass was intercepted, and the Eagles improved to 6-0 while the Cowboys are 4-2.
If someone had told even the most rabid, delusional, Cowboys fan in the final moments of that loss to Tampa that the Cowboys would be 4-2, they would not have believed it.
Not even sure the most optimistic man in the world, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, would have believed it.
They will take it.
Cooper Rush succeeded when all of us thought he would flop, but the Cowboys now officially need their starting quarterback to start.
Dak, your thumb is healed.
