Cooper Rush Magic Continues
Josh Frey
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The Cooper Rush era has been lucrative for the Dallas Cowboys over the past two seasons. On Monday Night Football, the backup QB led the Cowboys into New York and led Dallas to a 23-16 victory over the Giants.
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Looking back, it’s incredible that Rush found himself in the situation he’s in right now. Dallas’ QB was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Cowboys back in 2017. After that contract expired in 2020, the Cowboys waived him, and ironically enough, the New York Giants signed him.
Rush was with the Giants through the month of September in the 2020 season, and then they waived him. After a month away from the NFL, Rush returned to the Dallas Cowboys in November on the practice squad.
As a starting quarterback, Cooper Rush’s teams are now 3-0. Rush is the first undrafted QB to win his first three starts and pass for a total of 750+ yards in those games since Kurt Warner. So far in 2022, Rush has completed 62.7% of his passes for 514 yards and 2 TDs.
If you remember and haven’t already suppressed all memory of that game, Rush’s first career win came against the Minnesota Vikings in 2021. He torched the Vikings defense in Week 8 for 325 yards and a pair of touchdowns in a 20-16 win.
Making things worse, that game was in Minnesota. And even more disastrously, the Vikings were coming off a bye. They had a full two weeks to prepare for a backup QB at home, and they still lost the game.
Rush has been in the starting lineup for the Cowboys in two of their three games this season because Dak Prescott suffered a broken thumb in the season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Monday night’s game ended up being mostly a defensive showdown for most of the night. That said, Rush passed for 215 yards, and he hit CeeDee Lamb for what ended up being the deciding touchdown on a 1-yard strike in the back corner of the end zone.
As a result of Rush’s play combined with the ferocity on defense, the Dallas Cowboys have maintained pace in the NFC East. The Cowboys and Giants are tied for second place while the Eagles lead at 3-0. Prescott has said he’s eying a Week 5 return against the LA Rams, but if any setbacks were to occur, the Cowboys have to feel confident in Rush’s abilities to keep them competitive in games.
Vikings fans have to be hoping that there aren’t any setbacks though after last Halloween’s debacle. The Cowboys and Vikings face off once again on November 20th as part of the Week 11 slate of games.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing as well as minors in History, Human Biology, and Journalism. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh can often be found training for a marathon, playing video games, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. For more of his takes, NFL and otherwise, check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken