Cowboys need better option than Rush
It’s hard to say where this ranks on the list of Cowboys concerns or if it should be on there at all. But as the team prepares for a final tune-up in Houston, one in which no starters are likely to see real action, it seems the appropriate time to examine the Cowboys’ awkward approach at backup quarterback.
A year ago Cowboys fans could not get enough of Cooper Rush. The rookie free agent owned the month of August, compiling a crazy 135.9 passer rating in exhibition games (a 6-0 touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio was the key) and sending veteran Kellen Moore into retirement.
Moore is now the quarterbacks coach and Rush, for some reason, is not the same guy. His passer rating has been basically sliced in half (69.7) and with one touchdown pass and two interceptions (both against Arizona), he hardly looks prepared to take over for Dak Prescott if the time comes. The same goes for Mike White, a fifth-round pick last spring.
Prescott has started all 33 games since arriving in the fourth round of the 2016 draft. He carries a look of the indestructible, although we could say the same for center Travis Frederick, who had not missed any of 83 regular season and playoff games before being hit with the autoimmune disease that has him on the shelf indefinitely.
Concern over the Pro Bowl center’s absence is real. Head Coach Jason Garrett likes to talk about what’s on “line one,” and for this team, line one is all about having a powerful, dominant offensive line. When that changes, this team changes and I would guess it will be drastic.
But it will take at least one more significant injury to another of this club’s sturdy linemen to derail the unit.
Then there is the concern over Randy Gregory and whether he can stick around in the regular season to make the kind of plays he produced against Arizona on Sunday. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was not his usual optimistic self in discussing Gregory, listing him as “day to day” which is true enough for all of us but even more so in the case of anyone battling mental health issues and addiction.
The ongoing shuffle at safety remains puzzling. So does hand-wringing over a faulty backup quarterback really belong on this list?
My answer is yes, given not the likelihood of the Cowboys needing one but the impact he will have in the event his services are required. And this is where the Cowboys, once again, do things differently.
Around the league today, there are 29 teams with a veteran backup at quarterback. By veteran, I mean anyone who has started a game, so that’s not to say most of these are sure things. Steve Young isn’t coming off the bench to replace Joe Montana in the modern game, but there is one team that can play the “SUPER BOWL MVP TO THE RESCUE” card in Philadelphia.
Somewhere below the luxury of having Nick Foles (and even he has struggled this summer), there are teams with well-worn backups. Washington has Colt McCoy and his 25 career starts. Tampa Bay, with Jameis Winston suspended for three games, goes with Ryan Fitzpatrick and his 119 starts.
A few of these guys you don’t want back and I understand that. Brandon Weeden (25 starts) is still on Houston’s bench. Matt Cassel (81 starts) holds the clipboard in Detroit.
Only two teams, both with a reliance on Texas talent, join the Cowboys in not having a past starter on the bench. The New York Giants think Eli Manning’s successor could be Prosper’s Davis Webb. Meanwhile, behind Cam Newton in Carolina, SMU’s Garrett Gilbert and Texas A&M-Houston alum Kyle Allen wait their turn.
Does it make sense for the Cowboys to hand the keys to the car to Rush if something goes wrong for Dak? I’d say it’s an unnecessary risk but the market began shrinking Wednesday.
The Jets sent Teddy Bridgewater to New Orleans for a third-round pick — higher than the Cowboys would have been interested in going but the Saints might see Bridgewater as the successor to 39-yearold Drew Brees.
Seattle just traded a sixth-round for Green Bay’s Brett Hundley, apparently liking his limited experience over that of Austin Davis.
There’s plenty of veteran quarterback talent to be found around the league, and, no, not much of it looks like Foles. None of it looks like Steve Young. But for trying to win a game or two or simply not give away an important game during a short absence for the starter, this team should have better options than it carries right now.