A late-game hand injury suffered during Sunday Night Football against the Buccaneers has sidelined Dak Prescott for the foreseeable future.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones announced the star quarterback will miss “several weeks” after sustaining an injury to his throwing hand in the fourth quarter of Dallas’ 19–3 loss to Tampa Bay, according to USA Today’s Jori Epstein. Jones told reporters Prescott will undergo surgery to repair an injury behind the joint above the thumb on his right hand.
“Real disappointed before Dak’s injury,” Jones said after the game, per Epstein, “and certainly disappointed after it.”
Amid a tough night for the Cowboys as a whole, Prescott endured his fair amount of struggles prior to exiting the contest, completing just 14 of his 29 pass attempts for 134 yards with an interception. Prescott’s night went from bad to worse after the QB took hits to his throwing hand twice during a drive in the fourth quarter, eventually exiting the game with 6:02 remaining on the clock.
A concerned Prescott looked on as the Cowboys’ medical staff examined his hand shortly after he jogged off the field. He then took off for the locker room a few moments later for an X-ray, and was later announced on the broadcast as questionable to return. Backup Cooper Rush finished the drive and the rest of the game as Dallas went on to lose the season opener to end a night that also saw the discontent crowd pepper the team with boos.
With Prescott now out of the fold for an extended time, the Cowboys will spend the week preparing Rush for a start against Joe Burrow and the Bengals next Sunday at home. Cincinnati also lost its season opener earlier in the day to Pittsburgh in overtime, 23–20.
