Dak Prescott had the stitches removed from his surgically-repaired right thumb on Monday, which is a pivotal step on his road to recovery. While that was a significant mile-marker for the Cowboys quarterback, his return date is still a bit unclear. Prescott himself has been a bit scattered when talking about when he'll be back on the field. First, he told ESPN that he wasn't ruling out a comeback in Week 4 against Washington, but later walked that back and said he was eyeing Week 5 against the Rams.
As for what his head coach thinks, he's centering his focus on Prescott's actual recovery and keeping a return date fluid.
"He still has some swelling that he has to deal with. Once he gets past the swelling and the strengthening stage, then he'll get to the point where he'll be able to throw," Mike McCarthy told reporters Tuesday, via the official team website. "He'll be dealing with more rehab this week and hopefully we'll get the swelling and the strength where it needs to be. But I do not have a timeline on when he'll start throwing."
Prescott had surgery on Sept. 12 following Dallas' Week 1 loss to the Buccaneers where he fractured the thumb on his throwing hand. Of course, a return for Prescott really depends on how quickly the swelling will go down and his ability to grip and throw the football at a high level. The fact that we're still unclear when he'll even begin that process suggests he may still be a little bit away from him getting back under center.
As Prescott continues to rehab, the Cowboys have been getting solid quarterback play from backup Cooper Rush. He's led Dallas to back-to-back wins, which has even sparked QB controversy talk from Jerry Jones. Through two starts, Rush boasts a 96.8 passer rating, completed 64.5% of his passes, and is averaging 7.26 yards per attempt.
Despite Rush keeping the Cowboys afloat, it doesn't seem like Prescott is in any real fear of losing his starting job regardless of what ownership may suggest. What Rush's success may do, however, is ease the pressure off Prescott to return sooner than he may need to.
