FRISCO, Texas – Having resumed throwing this week, including limited practice participation Thursday, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is officially listed as questionable for Sunday's road game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Earlier this week, Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy confirmed that the team is preparing for Cooper Rush to start a fifth straight game Sunday filling in for Prescott, who has been sidelined since Sept. 12 surgery to repair a fracture in his right (throwing) thumb.
But this week Prescott has at least taken steps toward his eventual return to the lineup. Although he did not practice Wednesday, he threw to receivers for the first time since the injury, and Thursday he took part in a few individual drill reps.
McCarthy said Prescott has some general body soreness Friday, which was to be expected after his first practice work in a month. The Cowboys had their normal Friday walkthrough and will practice Saturday before their road trip to Philadelphia.
"He's sore as you could expect. That's the most he's thrown to this point. … But I think we're in a good place," McCarthy said.
With signs pointing to Rush as the starter again this week, McCarthy was asked if he's seen enough this week to know whether Prescott – even if he's not quite ready to take over starting duties yet – could possibly be available in an emergency backup role Sunday.
"Not yet because he's thrown individual routes. We've thrown on air. We haven't yet thrown in a competitive drill," McCarthy said. "That's one of the next hurdles. Hopefully we'll potentially get over that in tomorrow's (Saturday's) practice."
Asked the same question Friday afternoon on 105.3 The Fan, Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones said, "As we make those final decisions we'll certainly make that known, but right now we haven't made any final decisions."
McCarthy said Prescott will go through a pregame workout on the field in Philadelphia. He did the same thing last October at Minnesota but was ultimately inactive for that game with a calf strain.
"We're on schedule. Just keep progressing him," McCarthy said. "I look for him to have a really good workout tomorrow (Saturday) and just keep hitting the targets."
All along, the Cowboys have not circled a specific game date for Prescott's return. Jones was asked if Prescott could be ready to play by the end of the month, which would be the Oct. 30 home game against the Chicago Bears in two weeks.
"I would feel pretty strongly that he'll definitely play by the Bears game. But we'll see," Jones said. "Until that thing is where he feels like it's in a place that he can throw the ball properly and as (Cowboys owner/GM) Jerry (Jones) would say, 'spin it' the right way, then we'll continue to work on that. But I just feel like it's a day-to-day thing and we'll continue to look at it."
