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By Jon Machota
Oct 2, 2022
ARLINGTON, Texas — Cooper Rush doesn’t like taking much credit for his success. He mentioned being “lucky” on multiple occasions Sunday afternoon. He has mentioned luck before after a previous win this season.
But it’s not just luck that has put him in a category all alone. Sunday’s 25-10 win over Washington at AT&T Stadium was Rush’s third consecutive win of the season. He is now the only starting quarterback in Cowboys history to start his career 4-0.
“It’s been fun, I try to enjoy it,” Rush said of his undefeated record, which includes last season’s win at Minnesota. “The NFL doesn’t let you enjoy much. You got to go in week in and week out and play. I mean, you guys saw today with the defense, and all the breaks we catch, it’s just kind of lucky. QB win stats, they are what they are. It’s a team game. You know, it’s nice to have the defense have our back like that. We had some special teams plays and Brett (Maher) is making kicks and we did just enough on offense.”
Rush, who has been starting since Dak Prescott fractured his right thumb in the season opener against the Buccaneers, had the best statistical game of his four starts Sunday. He completed 15 of his 27 passes for 223 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Having Ezekiel Elliott turn a short pass into a 31-yard gain certainly helped Rush’s stats, but he wasn’t just dinking and dunking against Washington.
Rush connected with Noah Brown down the middle of the field for a 45-yard gain. He had a 30-yard deep ball to CeeDee Lamb for a touchdown. And then there were a pair of pass interference penalties on Rush throws to Michael Gallup. One ended up gaining the Cowboys 38 yards. The other went for 27.
Rush specifically mentioned the completions to Brown and Lamb when he was asked what he did well Sunday.
“I think our downfield accuracy was good,” he said. “We were able to just get chunk plays out of the play-action game and the passing game to get us kind of going and get into field goal range a few times. We did a good job not getting out of field goal range, no holding penalties and no negative plays. We have a lot to improve on, myself, definitely, I missed a lot of throws.”
In each of Rush’s four starts, his passer rating has improved. From 92.2 at Minnesota to 95.5 against Cincinnati to 98.2 at New York to 107.5 Sunday against Washington. It’s certainly possible that we haven’t seen his best yet.
“I think he knows he’s got a lot of confidence in the offense,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said, “that he knows where the cars are on the freeway. And to his credit, in the passing game, he gets the ball there. He gets a good ball to the receivers. They’ve got confidence in him.
“I just can’t say enough about how his play (and) what it has possibly done for this team this season, to give us a chance to sit here after these last three ballgames and maybe have the opportunity we’ve got for the rest of the year. It’s amazing. It’s far more than I could’ve ever expected.”
A key factor in all four of Rush’s victories has been an outstanding showing by the Cowboys defense. Sunday was more of the same as Dallas allowed only one touchdown for the fourth consecutive game, joining the 1970 and 1972 teams as the only ones in franchise history to give up four touchdowns or fewer in the first four games of the season.
Despite good field position most of the game, Washington rarely threatened to score touchdowns. Star pass rusher Micah Parsons didn’t have a sack. Top defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, who had three sacks Monday night against the Giants, didn’t have one, either. Dallas came in averaging 4.3 sacks per game but only managed two (DE Dante Fowler, DT Neville Gallimore). The Cowboys did find ways to cause problems for Commanders QB Carson Wentz, hitting him 11 times and limiting him to 170 passing yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Wentz was also flagged twice for intentional grounding.
Parsons said he believes the defense can continue getting after opposing quarterbacks the way it has in the first four games, “Because it’s not just one guy.”
“We got a load of guys who can make the play,” Parsons said. “I think that’s been the key this year.”
After having only two takeaways through the first three games, the defense had two Sunday (interceptions by All-Pro CB Trevon Diggs and rookie CB DaRon Bland), matching its average from last season when the Cowboys led the NFL with 34.
“There are a lot more coming,” Lawrence said. “It’s still early. Give us time.”
Safety Donovan Wilson continued to play well, leading the team in tackles, with nine. The only weakness for the group was defending the run in the first half. Washington ran for 101 yards on only 14 carries. But the run defense was much improved in the second half, when the Commanders totaled only 41 yards on 13 carries.
Gallup returned to the lineup for the first time since his season-ending knee injury against Arizona on Jan. 2. The team’s No. 2 wide receiver didn’t show any signs of rust, catching two of his three targets for 24 yards and a touchdown. He was also targeted on multiple plays that drew penalty flags.
“He helped out a lot,” said Lamb, who had a game-high 97 yards and a touchdown on six receptions. “I got a lot more one-on-one matchups. They kind of played it more honest.”
Rush could make his fourth consecutive start next week against the Los Angeles Rams. That is yet to be determined. It depends on how well Prescott is able to grip the ball this week in practice. He completed some short passes early in practice last week, during a portion open to reporters; however, he was listed as a non-participant all week on the official injury report.
Jones said Prescott is “making great progress,” but he stopped short of saying whether he would be able to play next Sunday. The more likely return date would be the following Sunday at Philadelphia.
Whether it’s Rush or Prescott under center next week, Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy and his staff have shown that they can consistently win games with their backup quarterback. Not many expected Dallas to be 3-1 after how poorly the team played in Week 1 and the loss of Prescott for what originally was thought to be four to six weeks.
“I don’t know how you could say enough about how (McCarthy) has handled this team initially starting out,” Jones said. “To me, it’s like, picture a boxer, a fighter, walking out and just getting absolutely hit with the best shot you ever could right on the chin. First step out. How do you get that all back together?
“Give him his due. He has managed to right the ship, steady it and then progressively get this team in shape to play without Dak. That’s a team-wide thing. I think it would be an injustice not to give him the kind of credit as head coach for getting this thing right and getting it to this point. What’s happened over the last three weeks with the makeup of our team, and I think our personnel and potential with the makeup of this team, these three games got us back in the hunt.”
