FRISCO, Texas – Following a career-high day for Cooper Rush in pass attempts (55) and passing yards (354) in a 34-10 loss to the Houston Texans, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones backed the veteran quarterback as Dallas' starter moving forward as well.
"We know that we've got limited time to work with these quarterbacks at this particular time, and I would look for us to stay with the experience." Jones said Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan when asked about what direction he would go in with Dallas' starting quarterback.
Rush's bounce back performance came with a 64-yard touchdown to KaVontae Turpin, the second longest of Rush's career, as well as an interception. It was a much better outing than the week prior, where Rush threw for just 45 yards through the air.
"I thought [Cooper] Rush played better than he accounted for the previous game," Jones said. "But still it was far off the mark for what it took to beat a team that normally we should've been able to step up and have a better accounting for."
The Cowboys had several opportunities to get touchdowns in the red zone, most notably when they decided to gamble on a fourth and two from the Houston 8-yard line and Rush missed an open Jonathan Mingo for what would've at least been a first down if not a touchdown. It goes back again to self-inflicted wounds, and the offense failing to execute when they need to most.
"We just got to get the ball in the end zone," Rush said. "Keep shooting ourselves in the foot, had a couple of chances there in the second half that we just didn't punch it in, it starts with me… opportunities like that versus a good football team, you can't blow it like that."
Mike McCarthy said postgame that he regretted not being able to give Trey Lance a drive towards the end of the night. Lance hasn't played a lot of football, and that might be part of the reason why the Cowboys haven't committed to getting him a higher uptick in snaps yet despite what he can bring to the table with his legs.
"We have thought it was just too important for us to have [Trey Lance] at quarterback in these last two ballgames because we need to win to that degree and give ourselves every chance we can," Jones said. "We hadn't gotten to the point that we were looking to evaluate Trey Lance more, at all."
With their fifth straight loss now in the rear-view mirror, focus quickly has to shift to the Commanders and a familiar face in former Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who has led Washington to a 7-4 record in his first season. It's a short week for the Cowboys, which means there's no time to dwell on this loss at all.
"It sucks, you're happy to have another chance to get out there," Rush said. "But you definitely want to get rid of this bad taste in our mouth and move on."
