The one Cowboys front office mistake nobody is talking about

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The Cowboys have made many mistakes this year, but this one gets swept under the rug.

When the game was on the line, Cooper Rush missed a wide-open CeeDee Lamb and threw a floating duck to a covered tight end who had no chance to catch the ball. That is about as unclutch of a play as you can get.

Man, CeeDee Lamb looks to be wide open on the final play of the game.

If Cooper Rush just looks to his left, it’s first down and then some.#DallasCowboys pic.twitter.com/I0NlSW9s4h

— Brandon Loree (@Brandoniswrite) December 10, 2024

Sadly, this is the reality of the Dallas Cowboys. All things hinge on the arm of Rush and let’s face it, it’s not that strong. That is why the air was removed from the Cowboys season in Week 9 when Dak Prescott went down against the Falcons. Even with so much football left, their season felt lost. That’s a dark place to be in. Imagine a team with three consecutive 12-win seasons being taken out of the running with over half a season left. But that is where the Cowboys were because Cooper Rush is not an NFL quarterback who can take this team anywhere.

To be fair, many teams that lose their starting quarterback for the season aren’t going to have much of a chance to get right back on the horse and make a bid for a Super Bowl. That would be an unreasonable expectation. There are only so many good starting quarterbacks in the league so finding quality in backups is even harder. But should teams that lose their starter be left for dead?

No. It’s such a bitter pill to swallow to suggest that if one of their 52 players goes down, their season is over. That’s why it’s so important for teams to fight tooth and nail to find a good enough backup to keep their team competitive. And as unlikely as that sounds, it’s happened quite a bit over the years.

Most people remember the storybook moments. First Kurt Warner took over for an injured Trent Green in 1999 and helped the St. Louis Rams win a Super Bowl. A couple of years later in 2001, an injury to Drew Bledsoe opened the door for Tom Brady to lead the New England Patriots to the first of many Super Bowls.

But these are lottery ticket moments where eventual Hall of Fame quarterbacks came out of nowhere. What about all those far less fancy instances where a viable backup played well enough to help a good team go on a run? Would you believe that every other team in the NFC East has won a Super Bowl with a backup quarterback?

• 1987 - Washington Redskins with Doug Williams after Jay Schroeder was benched
• 1990 - New York Giants with Jeff Hostetler after Phil Simms was injured
• 2017 - Philadelphia Eagles with Nick Foles after Carson Wentz was injured

There are several instances of success with a backup quarterback. The Miami Dolphins perfect season in 1972 wouldn’t have been possible if backup Earl Morrall didn’t come through after starter Bob Griese broke his leg. The Eagles might have won their first Super Bowl back in 1980 had it not been for Jim Plunkett filling in for the injured Dan Pastorini for the Oakland Raiders. And while the San Francisco 49ers didn’t win a Super Bowl in 2012, they sure came close when Colin Kaepernick took over for an injured Alex Smith.

The point is that injuries happen so frequently that teams should always have a good backup plan. Every plan won’t be a good one, but it should at least offer hope. Does a Cooper Rush-led team offer any hope? No, it doesn’t. Rush has a very low ceiling and can help provide short-term aid if other things around him are in order. That was the case in 2022 when good play-calling and a stout defense helped him go 5-1 during Prescott’s absence.

The Cowboys know what they have in Rush. He’s a guy who’s familiar with the offense and can step in and not make a bunch of mistakes if his number is called. But he’s not a guy that can step in and save a team’s season.

This organization has been down this path before. Jerry Jones has had a front-row seat in watching an injury to the starting quarterback completely derail their season on more than one occasion.

In 1990, the Jimmy Johnson turnaround was in full effect. After a 1-15 season the year before, the Cowboys got hot late in the year, winning four straight games. They needed just one win in their final two games to go from a one-win season to making the playoffs. Sadly, it didn’t happen. Troy Aikman suffered a shoulder injury and backup Babe Laufenberg was so terrible (sorry, Babe) that the Cowboys' offense fell on its face, losing their final two games and coming up short of the playoffs. The Cowboys learned their lesson and traded for Steve Beuerlein the following season.

Having a quality backup is not always easy. The team felt the loss of Tony Romo many times as backups like Brad Johnson, Kyle Orton, Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel, and Kellen Moore were significant downgrades. The offense became powerless with those guys at the helm. The best decision this team has made to address their backup quarterback was using a fourth-round draft pick on Prescott in 2016 and even how that all went down was messy.

They also did a good job by signing veteran backup Andy Dalton in 2020. The timing was impeccable as the previously never-injured Prescott went down hard that year with a season-ending foot injury in Week 5. Dalton ended up getting hurt himself and other circumstances (horrible defense) killed their season, but the logic behind the signing was good. It offered them a chance.

And that is what the Cowboys don’t have right now. A chance. However, when you look at their decision to trade away a fourth-round pick for Trey Lance, it’s hard to be too critical of them. In hindsight, it looks bad, but the thinking behind it at the time wasn’t. They took a flyer on a guy who might have some early Romoesque playmaking ability. And by that, we mean someone who isn’t pocket-ready but has enough raw talent and mobility to improve and keep things interesting when he’s in the game.

The only issue with the Lance deal is that we got a heavy dose of him in the preseason and it’s pretty evident he’s not a guy who can deliver results, which is why we’re all stuck with Cooper Rush now. As much credit as we have given them for “trying” in recent years, they are not doing enough to give their team a chance without Prescott. They must try harder.

The Minnesota Vikings are 11-2 with Sam Darnold. The Pittsburgh Steelers are 10-3 with six games (4-2) with Justin Fields at quarterback. It’s possible to still be a good football team without your starter. It’s not easy, but it’s possible. Between Rush and Lance, the Cowboys are not equipped with enough talent at the game’s most vital position to win. They didn’t just recently discover this. They knew it and consciously decided to proceed anyway. While all the eggs are in the Prescott basket, they must understand that he’s over 30 now and has missed time in four of his last five seasons. The front office must do a better job shoring up a good backup quarterback.