When it rains, it pours: Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott could reportedly miss multiple weeks

FRISCO — Dark clouds hung above The Star, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, on Monday. Rain poured as cracks of thunder rattled nearby.

It felt fitting.

The Dallas Cowboys fell to 3-5 with a 27-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. On Monday, the felt another loss — this time the expected absence of quarterback Dak Prescott, who left Sunday’s game in the fourth quarter with a hamstring injury.

Prescott, according to multiple reports, will miss multiple weeks with the hamstring injury. He also could be a candidate for injured reserve, which would keep him out a minimum of four weeks.

Prescott said after Sunday’s loss to the Falcons that he hoped to play on Sunday against the Eagles. When describing the injury, he also said something that sounded alarming in the moment.

“Felt it on the little scramble to the left. Felt it didn’t think much. Then on the next play, throwing that the stop route to the field, pulled something,” Prescott said. “I felt something I never felt. It tough to walk on it at that point.”

With Prescott presumably out, the Cowboys will now turn to backup quarterback Cooper Rush, who has an overall starting record of 5-1 in his career with the Cowboys. The Cowboys also have Trey Lance on the roster, though Rush won the backup job in training camp.

Rush completed 13-of-25 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown in relief of Prescott on Sunday.

“Every rep you’ve banked your whole life, you kind of rely on and count on,” Rush said. “Obviously it’s a new year, different group, things like that, but for the most part there’s a lot of similarities.”

There are also some key differences. Rush had the majority of his starting experience in 2022. Prescott was injured in the opener. Rush was charged with keeping things afloat while optimism for the season was still high. Eventually, the Cowboys went 12-5 and made it to the second round of the postseason, where they lost a close playoff game on the road to the San Francisco 49ers.

Now rush takes over with a team searching for belief amidst a tough time — a team that faces three opponents with a combined 17-9 record over the next three weeks.

“You’d say, ‘Boy, this thing looks pretty bleak right now,'” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said after the loss on Sunday, “but candidly, I’ve seen situations that look bleak turn around.”