Sources: Cowboys Team Meeting Reveals Dak Prescott OUT, Cooper Rush in at QB at Vikings

Two sources tell CowboysSI.com that in the team meeting on Saturday here in Minneapolis, Cowboys players were informed to anticipate playing without Prescott.

MINNEAPOLIS - The Dallas Cowboys may remain “hopeful” - the word one source uses to explain the Sunday game status of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who this week has pushed to play against Minnesota.

But two sources tell CowboysSI.com that in the team meeting on Saturday here in Minneapolis, Cowboys players were informed to anticipate playing without Prescott.

And in early pregame warmups here at US Bank Stadium: Cooper Rush and Will Grier are going to be the top two QBs. 

Dak is inactive. Dak will rest. 

#DakPrescott leads #DallasCowboys Inactives #DALvsMIN .. full story https://t.co/XpImtdZoYw pic.twitter.com/MAyfdWLYtk

— fishsports ✭ (@fishsports) October 31, 2021

Prescott spent the week rehabbing, ramping up and “pushing … 100 percent” in his quest to overcome the right calf injury sustained two weeks ago during his game-winning TD throw in an OT win at New England. All indications are that he passed the medical “thresholds” that coach Mike McCarthy talked of, as the club wants to be cautious in making sure the injury “doesn’t linger,” as Prescott said.

If it was my call and it was totally up to me, yes,” Prescott said Thursday when asked about playing. “But this is something I agree with the experts. I don’t want it to linger. I don’t want this to be week after week, ‘Are we going through this?’

“To me, it’s just about getting better, controlling what I can.”

Prescott was a participant in the all-important Saturday “launch practice” - maybe enough to lock him into the lineup - but a source said the medical staff wants to monitor the MVP candidate’s status on Sunday before finalizing a decision on playing Prescott over backup Cooper Rush.

But in essence, the decision was made on Saturday.

Prescott, who on Friday mourned the death of his grandmother, is the centerpiece player of the NFC East-leading Cowboys, who at 5-1 have reeled off five straight wins. He made it clear that if this was the playoffs, he’d be “100-percent” starting.

But he also noted, “Every game is important, adding that is his mind, he’s spent the week planning to start.

“I felt like I could get out here and play in a game and be ready to go,” said Prescott, though the cautious Cowboys - “hopeful” though they may be - told themselves to ready for Rush.

Click here for more on the Cowboys vs. Vikings as it involves QB Dak Prescott and the game… Full coverage from Minnesota, is here.