It seems like he just can’t shake the injury bug. Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott underwent surgery on the right thumb he broke trying to throw a pass against the Tampa Bay Bucs in a 19-3 loss in Week 1.
Dak’s surgery is another major blow to the Dallas Cowboys’ championship hopes. FS1 analyst Shannon Sharpe says this rash of injuries, while not career-threatening, are a cause for concern. After making 69 consecutive starts as the Cowboys quarterback, Prescott has now made just 22 starts since 2020 due to injuries.
“So later in his career the injuries are starting to come with a great regularity,” Sharpe said Tuesday on “Undisputed” while acknowledging the various injuries as a bad sign for a football player.
According to reports, there are 21 quarterbacks in the NFL with more starts than Prescott since 2020, including 45-year-old Tom Brady and injury-prone Carson Wentz. Prescott has missed at least 12 starts over the past two seasons.
Now the question is can backup Cooper Rush hold down the fort until Dak returns?
Rush is unproven and the NFC East is an improved division; there are no cakewalks this season. There’s a large contingent of football people who believe Dallas should go out and pursue a proven quarterback, whoever that may be. Rush has one career start in five NFL seasons and 488 yards passing. Hardly the traditional résumé of a Dallas Cowboys starting QB. He did however go into Minnesota last year, Sharpe says, and win.
“Is Cooper Rush enough?” Sharpe asked, while offering support for Dallas sticking with the inexperienced backup. “Could he hold the fort down? If you believe he can…as I believe he can because they didn’t go out in free agency and get anybody else. If you believe that, you stand pat. The length of time it would take somebody to come in and learn your system, Dak’s probably going to be back.”
Sharpe might have a point. An expected swift return by Dak probably figured into the Cowboys’ decision to thrust Rush into the mix.
While Sharpe supports the decision, he says San Francisco 49ers backup Jimmy G would have been the best option to keep a winning momentum going, but San Francisco has made it hard for teams to acquire him and Dallas wouldn’t be willing to adjust their business practices to make it work.
“Jimmy G would have been a nice option, but what do we know about the Cowboys? They don’t like giving up draft compensation,” Sharpe said.
Sounds good, but the facts remain.
Around this same time last year, Dak Prescott was celebrating his return from a major injury and an incredible performance against the Patriots by emerging from the game with a walking boot at his press conference. It was a bad sign, but Prescott downplayed it. Not much went right for Dak and Dallas after that as they were a lazy 7-4 the rest of the way and an easy out in the playoffs.
If there could be any good news in the situation, doctors originally said Dak would miss six to eight weeks, but during his weekly radio interview on Wednesday, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said it might be closer to just 3 to 4 weeks that Dak misses now.
This comes at a terrible time for Dallas who once again went into the season with high aspirations and expecting Dak to finally produce that MVP-caliber season they expected when Jones reluctantly gave Dak the bag in the form of a four-year, $160M deal with $95M guaranteed.
Prescott continues to be hindered by injuries. It’s become a theme in a career that began with a reputation for durability.
ProFootballTalk wrote this week: “Dak Prescott started the first 64 games of his career and played nearly every offensive snap. But in Week 5 of the 2020 season the Cowboys quarterback had a compound fracture and dislocation of his ankle that ended his season. In 2021, he had a shoulder injury that kept him out of part of training camp and a calf injury that kept him out of a game.”
One thing he can’t be accused of is being a killjoy or pessimist.
“Things happen that I can’t control and who am I to question it,” Prescott told reporters this week about his recurring health challenges. “It gives me an opportunity to respond and move forward. Control the things that I can, that’s what I’ll do as I’ve always done.”
For now, Dak and Dallas are trending downward, for sure.
Read More TSL Stories:
