Dak Prescott is not expected to be active Sunday night when the Cowboys play the Eagles in Philadelphia. But for the first time since fracturing his right thumb in the season opener, Dallas’ franchise quarterback was listed as questionable on the final injury report of the week.
Could Prescott be Cooper Rush’s backup Sunday night?
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“Right now, we haven’t made any final decisions,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Friday afternoon on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas.
Prescott threw to receivers after practice on Wednesday. He did a little more Thursday, throwing a handful of routes to receivers during individual drills and then again after practice. That increased workload led to him being listed as limited. He never took part in any team drills.
“Clearly, Dak did a little more (Thursday) than scheduled, so that was a good sign,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. “He’s sore, as you could expect. That’s the most that he’s thrown to this point. We got a plan for him tomorrow and a plan for him Sunday. We’ll just stay the course.
“He’ll definitely work out Sunday before the game in the pre-pregame.”
That is the part of pregame when players who are usually not active for the game go through a light workout routine. McCarthy has said that he would like Prescott to go through a full week of practice before he returns to playing.
Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb on Dak Prescott: "I caught passes from him today. I'm waiting for him to get back, until then we're going to keep working, keep grinding. He looks healthy."
Do you think he's close?
Lamb: "I think so. … He's shaking back, looking better than ever."
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) October 13, 2022
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was asked Friday morning on The Fan if he expects Prescott to start the following week against the Detroit Lions.
“I don’t want to say, but he has made a lot of progress,” Jones responded. “Throwing the ball with zip and (that’s) very, very, very important. How he is healing is just great. So, all systems on go there.”
Stephen Jones was asked on The Fan if he thinks Prescott will play by Week 8 against the Chicago Bears.
“I would feel pretty strongly that he’ll definitely play by the Bears game,” Stephen responded. “But we’ll see.”
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Here are several other notes to get you ready for Sunday night’s game between the Cowboys and Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.
QB question. Every time the Cowboys win another game with Rush under center, more experts seem to mention the idea of Dallas sticking with Rush even when Prescott is fully healthy. During his weekly radio appearance on 96.7 The Ticket in Dallas on Thursday, former Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterback and Monday Night Football broadcaster Troy Aikman said if the Cowboys win Sunday, handing the Eagles their first loss of the season, “you start asking the question, ‘Do we put Dak back in?’”
“Considering what they’ve been able to do and how they’ve been able to win games with Cooper Rush,” Aikman added, “I think that becomes a real question the organization has to answer.”
Later in the interview, Aikman was asked a follow-up question about his answer.
“I’m going off what the owner said,” Aikman responded, “He said that he’d welcome a quarterback controversy. I understand what he’s saying, meaning, ‘I hope we win. Right? I hope we win without Dak and then people are wondering what we should do.’ I went through this back in 1991, when Steve Beuerlein came in and won the last five games of the regular season and I was ready to play. Jimmy (Johnson) stayed with Steve in the postseason, and I wasn’t happy about it.
“I don’t think there were questions within the organization as far as who was the future for the franchise. But those become hard questions and it’s the only position it probably happens at. … If they’re winning and they win a big road game against Philadelphia, I could see where there is some pause and you say, ‘Well, how exactly do we handle this?’ And I don’t know.
“In no way, I can see it now, the headlines, that’s not what I’m saying at all. Dak is the quarterback of this franchise. I love the guy. And they’re better with Dak at quarterback, but the team is playing good football right now.”
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Would the decision to stick with Rush this week be different if the Cowboys weren’t winning?
“I don’t think so,” McCarthy said Wednesday. “You got to trust the medical process. It’s a 17-game season. That was my immediate response. I know Dak didn’t want to hear it. We got to make sure he’s right for the long haul, too.”
Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones on his expectations for when Dak Prescott returns: pic.twitter.com/eN9MXdAWWB
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) October 14, 2022
DeMarcus Lawrence. The Cowboys’ standout left defensive end wasn’t in the mood this week to field multiple questions about Eagles QB Jalen Hurts. Lawrence was asked a few questions in front of his locker on Thursday before he finally responded: “How about this, that’s the last question I’m going to hear about Hurts. For real though. Because I really don’t care.”
Hurts has been Philadelphia’s team MVP during their 5-0 start. According to BetMGM, he is tied with Lamar Jackson for the third-best odds to win NFL MVP at +550. Josh Allen leads the way at +175. Patrick Mahomes is second at +400.
Hurts, who has always been an outstanding runner, has looked much improved as a passer this season, averaging 272 passing yards per game, completing 68 percent of his passes and posting a 97.4 passer rating. He has only thrown for four touchdowns, but he has rushed for six.
“Has he played us?” Lawrence asked reporters. “All right. Different teams run different schemes. … All y’all need to write is he hasn’t played the Cowboys yet, so we don’t know how good is he.
“I think he knows his system better. I think he’s making better reads and stuff like that, but I think there are still areas that he struggles in, so just attack the areas.”
Cowboys DE DeMarcus Lawrence on the Eagles: "They do have a pretty good offense. The got a good WR corps, good QB, good O-line, so they're well-rounded. But also, we dem boys. Remember that. Don't worry about it. Y'all will see it on Sunday."
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) October 13, 2022
Injury updates. Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb (hip) appeared on the injury report Friday. He is listed as questionable for Sunday night.
“He’s just working through a couple things there,” Stephen Jones said Friday on The Fan. “Just felt like it was best for him not to practice today. We feel like he’ll get all that sorted out for the game.”
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Lawrence was limited Wednesday and Thursday because of a chest injury. He’s expected to play.
“I’m hurt,” Lawrence said. “But I can’t do nothing about it. I’m a soldier. I ride. That’s it. It ain’t nothing like I have to get surgery for, so if I don’t need surgery then I’m going to stick it out and ride.”
Veteran OL Jason Peters is also dealing with a chest injury that limited him all week.
“I’m good,” Peters said. “I practiced. I feel good. I’m ready to roll.”
Jason Peters on Cowboys/Eagles rivalry, dislike between fanbases: “I just know Philly fans are f**kin idiots when it comes to the camaraderie and the Cowboys, any team, really. … They know that. They pride themselves on being nasty. Philly fans are the wildest fans out there.”
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) October 12, 2022
Micah Parsons. The team leader in sacks (6) and QB pressures (18) won NFC Defensive Player of the Week after his two sacks, a forced fumble, five tackles, three QB hits and one tackle for loss against the Rams last Sunday. Parsons came out of that game dealing with a groin injury. He spent time before each practice this week working on the resistance cords. He said there is “no question” he’s playing Sunday.
The Pennsylvania native tweeted his displeasure this week after some of the debatable roughing-the-passer calls around the NFL.
“We kind of got a small margin of how to tackle quarterbacks and it’s a physical game,” Parsons said Wednesday. “It’s tough. I understand why, the strides that make a difference and try to keep players safe, but at the end of the day, we’ve got a job to do. I’m just going to keep it like that. We got a job to hit somebody. That’s what I get paid to do. That’s the reason why I’m still here and get my pay stub every Thursday, to hit people. And it’s kind of making it difficult for a lot of players around the league to hit people. We got to find a better way to adjust or they got to find a better way to help us out there.”
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Parsons added that he’s not thinking about it while he’s playing.
“If I get a fine, I get a fine,” he said. “If I don’t, I don’t. I’m playing football to help my team win games and I know to do that we’ve got to sack the quarterback.”
Eagles fans vs. Cowboys fans. Eagles All-Pro center Jason Kelce provided a lengthy opinion this week on the two fan bases.
“The moment you get here,” Kelce said on 94.1 WIP in Philadelphia, “almost the first thing any Philadelphia fan says to you outside of the stadium, in the stadium, ‘We don’t care what you do throughout the season, we just care that you beat the Dallas Cowboys.’ This is such an ingrained rivalry that means so much to the city and really both fan bases. What I’ve realized the more I’ve come to be a Philadelphian and the more I’ve played here, and played the Cowboys, is it’s really such a dichotomy.
“They are two polar opposites that have been in the same division and played so many meaningful games of football together. You have the Philadelphia fan base, which is this extremely localized die hard fan base that is authentic to all of them growing up together in this like community and this like environment that breeds authenticity. And you have the Cowboys fan base, which they have that in Dallas, but the majority of that fan base is built on commercialism and all of this pop culture, Lakers, Yankees type fandom that I think is the complete opposite of what the Philadelphia Eagles fan base stands for.
“And then also you have the north and the south going into it. You have so many factors and different things that it’s led to being almost a game of cultures and values, that I certainly feel and love to represent the side I am on.”
Interesting stats. If Rush wins Sunday night, he would become the 12th quarterback in NFL history to win his first six career starts, and he’d be the first QB to do it since Patrick Mahomes (2017-2018).
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Lawrence needs one sack to pass Cowboys Hall of Fame DT Randy White (52 sacks) for the sixth-most sacks in franchise history.
The last time the Cowboys and Eagles played with records of 4-1-or-better was in 1994. Both entered Week 7 that season at 4-1. Dallas won the game 24-13 at Texas Stadium. Eagles QB Randall Cunningham threw four interceptions.
The Cowboys have won seven of their last nine against the Eagles. Dallas is 72-54 all-time against Philadelphia. The Cowboys are 31-30 playing at Philadelphia.
Most defensive touchdowns in the NFL since the start of last season: Cowboys 7, Eagles 6, Dolphins 6, Chiefs 5, Patriots 5.
(Top photo of Dak Prescott: Michael Owens / Getty Images)
