Dak Prescott has the talent to lead the Cowboys to the playoffs, but if they’re forced to go with Cooper Rush, it’s going to be disastrous for Dallas.
No team with legitimate playoff aspirations should find it acceptable to be one injury away from a horrible season. That’s just the situation the Cowboys find themselves in at quarterback.
Dak Prescott has been very durable during his NFL career, but if that falters in 2018 the Cowboys are going to find themselves in the bottom of the standings.
Cooper Rush had a nice career at Western Michigan, but he’s nowhere near ready to take meaningful snaps in the NFL. Nonetheless, the Cowboys insist they aren’t going to make a move to bring a veteran in to replace him.
That means if Prescott goes down with an injury, it’s going to be up to Rush to pilot the offense.
When you watch Rush on film, it’s pretty obvious he lacks the talent to be an NFL starter. He’s got decent mobility in the pocket, but he lacks the arm talent to make any meaningful plays.
To that end, he hasn’t averaged more than 6.3 yards per completion in any of his three preseason outings in 2018.
His play against Arizona in the Cowboys’ most recent contest is particularly concerning. He managed to complete 11 of his 17 passes against the Cardinals but he only managed to rack up 93 yards. The real issue was his lack of ball security though.
Throwing two interceptions in that number of attempts is a clear signal he doesn’t have what it takes to lead the offense.
Leaving Rush as the backup might be more defensible if the Cowboys were blessed with above-average talent at wide receiver. Instead, they arguably have the least accomplished group of wideouts in the league.
Anyone who lines up under center for Dallas this season is going to need to elevate the players around him. Rush is entirely incapable of doing that.
Instead of hanging on to Rush and hoping for the best, the Cowboys’ front office should be burning up the phone lines to acquire an upgrade.
They don’t need to swing a deal for a big name player like Teddy Bridgewater, but finding someone capable of filling in for Prescott for a few games would be a terrific insurance policy to acquire.
Unfortunately for Cowboys fans, they’re going to be walking on eggshells with Prescott all year. Every time he takes a hit it’s going to bring the possibility of turning to Rush into play. That’s a great route to a really high pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.