On Monday, Dak Prescott had the stitches removed from his surgically repaired right thumb, which is a crucial step on his road to recovery. While this is a significant milestone for the Cowboys quarterback, his return date is still unclear. Prescott himself was a little scattered when talking about his return to the field. First he said ESPN that he wasn’t ruling out a comeback in Week 4 against Washington, but came back later and said he was eyeing week 5 against the Rams.
As for what his head coach thinks, he’s focused on getting Prescott to actually recover and keep a smooth return date.
“He still has swelling that he has to deal with. Once he gets past the bulking and strengthening stage, he’ll get to the point where he can throw,” Mike McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday, via the official website of the team. “He’ll do more rehab this week and hopefully we’ll get the bulk and strength where it’s needed. But I don’t have a timeline for when he’ll start throwing.”
Prescott underwent surgery Sept. 12 after Dallas’ Week 1 loss to the Buccaneers, where he fractured the thumb of his throwing hand. Of course, a comeback for Prescott really hinges on how quickly the swelling goes down and his ability to grab and throw the ball at a high level. The fact that we still don’t know when he will even begin this process suggests he may still be a bit far from him to get back under center.
As Prescott continues his rehab, the Cowboys got a solid quarterback from backup Cooper Rush. He led Dallas to consecutive victories, which even sparked the Jerry Jones QB controversy. After two starts, Rush has a 96.8 passer rating, has completed 64.5 percent of his passes and is averaging 7.26 yards per attempt.
Although Rush is keeping the Cowboys afloat, it doesn’t seem like Prescott really fears losing his starting job, no matter what the ownership may suggest. What Rush’s success may do, however, is ease the pressure on Prescott to come back sooner than he needs to.