Moments before halftime of Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush was largely responsible for a 10-point swing on the scoreboard.
In field goal range, Rush fumbled the ball and turned it over despite not being touched by any Panthers defender. Moments later, the Cowboys defense broke down and allowed an 83-yard touchdown pass from Bryce Young and Co. Instead of almost being guaranteed a 13-0 score going into the locker room, it was 10-7.
With the blunder being Rush’s eighth fumble of the season and not particularly a strong first half from his part, naturally, fans and media wondered about whether or not it could be time to test Trey Lance in the second half.
However, Rush bounced back as the Cowboys beat the Panthers 30-14 as the offense started to click on all cylinders and the defense forced four turnovers total. As for the quarterback, he added two touchdowns to his name in the third and fourth quarter, including one throw to Jalen Brooks that might’ve been the best pass of his career.
Based on McCarthy’s comments on Rush’s performance postgame, it doesn’t sound like the Cowboys will be considering any quarterback change over the final three games of the season.
“Cooper’s reaction, I thought his two touchdown throws were huge, big-time throws,” McCarthy told reporters. “(They) had good coverage for that particular play, and he just extended the play, had great patience, and hit (Jalen Tolbert) in the corner of the end zone, I thought that was a huge, huge play, no different than his second one.”
McCarthy even offered more praise to Rush beyond the couple of touchdown plays he added in the second half.
“Love his poise, he commands the huddle, keeps us in really good place,” McCarthy added.
Now granted, Rush is far from the perfect passer. CeeDee Lamb did a fantastic job on Sunday getting him out of trouble, catching multiple footballs that weren’t exactly perfectly placed. The Cowboys are clearly fine with that. As long as Rush is decent and avoids turnovers, there’s little to no chance he’ll lose his starting gig to the talented yet unpolished Lance.
