Cowboys Country

Rush Hour: No Dak Prescott, No Problem; Backup QB Keys Cowboys Last-Minute Win at Vikings

Stunning? Yes, and thrilling, capped by two-minute drill in which the Cowboys finally on this night played like they were being led by the leader Dak - but it was the leader Rush.

Mike Fisher

MINNEAPOLIS - It has been the opinion of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, from training camp to this week's preparation for this NFL Week 8 visit to Minnesota, that Cooper Rush is a more-than-capable just-in-case caddie to Dak Prescott.

"I think he's just outstanding at executing our offense,” Jones has said of the Dallas backup quarterback, who is an odd combination of "journeyman'' and "inexperienced. “He really makes outstanding decisions. He gives us the ability to maximize our supporting cast around him. We have the full playbook with him.

"That's a big deal."

Even bigger? Cowboys, 20, Vikings 16 - a "Sunday Night Football'' Halloween showdown here at US Bank Stadium that was supposed to be all about the star who wasn't showcased. Rush stepped in for Dak Prescott, who the Dallas medical staff opted to hold back as he rehabs his calf strain.

Sources told CowboysSI.com, as we reported early Sunday, that Dallas essentially made the decision to keep Prescott in wraps on Saturday, at which point the announcement was made in a team meeting. 

What was also said? As with Jones, all the right things.

“I feel good,'' Rush said during the week. "I’ve been in this offense for a while. I feel confident.”

After this performance, at least in the second half? The confidence is up.

Yes, Rush had his moments of imperfection. But the 73-yard catch-and-run TD hookup with Ced Wilson was fine, and important, as it tied the game at 10-all early in the second half. And in the final two minutes, he made a good throw (and got great help) involving Amari Cooper (eight catches, 122 yards) to push Dallas into tying-field-goal range.

And then one more good - no, great - throw, the 5-yard lob to Cooper in the end zone, under duress, to cap a thrilling two-minute drill in which the Cowboys finally on this night played like they were being led by the leader Dak.

Instead, rather stunningly, they were led by the leader Rush, with the night of his life, a two-TD/325-yards-passing extravaganza.

Why "stunningly''? The Cowboys spent the last eight months convincing themselves they were good at No. 2 QB - even though much of the time the No. 2 QB they were bragging on was Garrett Gilbert, rated ahead of Rush. 

Garrett, released in favor of Rush, hadn't done anything to merit that faith, to prove he could play. Rush hasn't done anything to merit that faith, either.

But it is easy to argue now that he just proved - at age 27, with five years on and off in the NFL, entering Sunday with three pass attempts and one completion in his entire pro career - that Dallas' faith was correct.

Or, at the least, it was rewarded.

The real solution starting Monday morning is to hope that leaping to 6-1 (and six straight wins) increases exponentially the joy of keeping Dak out of harm's way for another week ... and to then rely on MVP candidate Prescott's ferocious will to rehab and return, and to allow him back on the field in Week 9's visit from the Denver Broncos.

But for one wacky, wonderful, stunning night? Cooper Rush's Cowboys were right.

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Mike Fisher
MIKE FISHER

Mike Fisher - as a newspaper beat writer and columnist and on radio and TV, where he is an Emmy winner - has covered the NFL since 1983 and the Dallas Cowboys since 1990, is the author of two best-selling books on the Cowboys.

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