FRISCO, Texas — If someone would have told Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy and owner Jerry Jones before the season that the team would be 4-2 after the first six games, they would have gladly taken it.
And that was with a healthy quarterback Dak Prescott and offensive tackle Tyron Smith.
That the Cowboys are here at 4-2 with Prescott missing the last five games with a fractured thumb and Smith out until December after suffering an avulsion fracture two weeks before the season opener, the Cowboys are quietly over the moon with joy while breathing a collective sigh of relief.
And that doesn’t even include losing franchise-tagged tight end Dalton Schultz for two games and safety and defensive-play caller Jayron Kearse for three games with knee injuries.
The Cowboys just weathered arguably their toughest stretch of the season with games against the perennial contending Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-3), last year’s Super Bowl combatants in the Cincinnati Bengals (3-3) and Los Angeles Rams (3-3), as well as the high-flying New York Giants (5-1) and undefeated Philadelphia Eagles (6-0) to go along with the Washington Commanders (2-4).
Backup quarterback Cooper Rush played mistake-free football in leading the Cowboys to wins against the Bengals, Rams, Giants and Commanders before stumbling with a three-interception performance against the Eagles.
He did his job by winning games and keeping the Cowboys in contention. He also allowed some young parts of the team grow around him.
Rookie top pick Tyler Smith was forced to start at left tackle in place of the injured Tyler Smith.
The Cowboys had to navigate an inexperienced receivers corps that played special teams demon Noah Brown as the No. 2 receiver behind CeeDee Lamb because Michael Gallup missed the first three games rehabbing a torn ACL.
“When you look at Cooper’s performance I think you start with the wins,” McCarthy said. “I think like anything at the position, it’s the most difficult position in our game. He kept us in full game plans which is where you want to be with your backup quarterback. And most importantly I think when you’re able to continue playing like that, your offense has a chance to grow. So not only winning games, No. 1, but I think the ability to conceptually stay on course, get through your menus of what you work on at training camp, and he gave us that opportunity and should be recognized for that.
“He’s put us in a good spot.”
All things considered, the Cowboys are in a great spot.
And now Prescott is on track to return for Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions (1-4) which is the first of two games before the bye — they play the Chicago Bears (2-4) Oct. 30. It’s also the first of five of their final 11 against the teams with losing records, providing a perfect restart for a team that believes the best lies ahead ahead for them in 2022.
The Cowboys are one of just six teams in NFL with at least five games remaining against opponents with losing records.
The Cowboys know they will be better offensively because of Prescott’s presence.
He has the ability to make plays in the passing game that Rush lacks.
But they are also a team that will continue to get better around him as this is different Cowboys team than one Prescott quarterbacked in the 19-3 season-opening loss to Buccaneers.
It has improved immensely and the arrow is still pointing up, especially for Tyler Smith and left guard Connor McGovern.
“Tyler just needs to keep playing. The same with Connor. He is a first year starter to,” McCarthy said. “We are extremely young on on offense. Our best days are ahead of us. Not being captain obvious here. But we still have a lot of work to do. That’s been our approach.
“But obviously when Dak last played, there were some young spots there. Dalton, hopefully we can get him back this week. We definitely have a chance to improve. Having Michael [Gallup] in there is a big plus. Our improvement is starting to climb.”
The Cowboys believe they will be a better team going forward and they are ecstatic over how good they have been so far.
Prescott is back and the arrow is pointing up.
What we do know about the Cowboys and their ability to fight through diversity is that it’s something they can continue to build on.
”Being resilient and knowing adversity is going to come sooner or later is part of the NFL,” linebacker Leighton Vander Esch. “But it’s how you keep going, how you take those punches and keep swinging and not backing down that is what we have been doing and what we are going to keep doing.”
