Can the Cowboys win without star quarterback Dak Prescott? Last month, on October 17th, Prescott had suffered a calf strain against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. Although the incident was an accident it was assumed that Prescott would return for the upcoming game against the Minnesota Vikings, however, it was decided on Sunday that Dak wouldn’t play in the game. This has changed the odds from the Cowboys winning to now the Vikings winning. 

Ever since their loss to Tampa Bay the Cowboys have been on a 5 game winning streak. They had a 5-1 record which made them the number one team in the NFC East (which they still hold to this day). Dak Prescott has been “that guy” in Dallas. The show he has put on is positioning him in the conversation for the comeback player of the year. Dak, as we all know, just came back from breaking his ankle last season but is not showing signs of slowing down.

Cooper Rush is a name that most fans recognize from the previous season. He is the backup to Prescott and played a couple games for the Cowboys throughout last season. Tyler J. Davis from the Detroit Free Press stated, “He had completed 1 of 3 career passes for 2 yards going into the game. Yet the Cowboys seemed to value his skills to some degree, holding onto Rush for several seasons (the New York Giants also added him to their roster after he left the Cowboys in 2020).” Many fans and sports critics had little faith in Rush. He had barely played all season and was expected to “fill in” Dak’s shoes which is hard to do. But after the game ended he proved everyone wrong.

Rush threw for 325 yards with 2 touchdowns and an interception. A touchdown is when a player scores in the opponents end zone to get 6 points and an interception is when the ball is thrown and caught by the defense and not the offense. The stat speaks for itself, he balled out and led the Cowboys to a final score of 20-16. The score is pretty close but having to play without your starting quarterback is hard for any team. The quarterback is the captain on the field. He sees the defense and has a great connection between the O-line and receivers. Without that presence teams usually have a hard time filling that void. Cooper Rush, however, had no problem taking over and securing the win for his team. Jared Hector from The Shadow League said, “Prescott wants to be back on the field, but he’s happy the team got the win and they are on track for the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.” It’s predicted that if the Cowboys keep playing like they are they will have a good chance in the playoffs.

The Cowboys are now 6-1 and will be coming home to face the Denver broncos. It’s almost certain that Dak will be back but how efficient will he be? He was out for 2 weeks after his injury and didn’t have much time to prepare. The predictions are in favor of Dallas winning but we will see on Sunday. Can the Cowboys go 7-1? Will Dak perform at his best? Or will the Broncos bulldoze their way to victory?