On Monday night, the Dallas Cowboys defeated the New York Giants by a score of 23-16 to record their second victory of the year.
Rush has now won three straight games while filling in for an ailing Dak Prescott.
Rush is one of only three Cowboys starting quarterbacks to have won his first three career games, along with Jason Garrett and Hall of Famer Roger Staubach.
“Well, he doesn’t get rattled,” head coach Mike McCarthy said of Rush after the victory, via the team’s transcript. “…He’s the same, every day. So consistent. But yeah, he’s playing good football right now. I’m glad to recognize him for it. He’s giving us the boost to just keep playing on offense.”
According to NFL Research, the Dallas quarterback became the first undrafted QB to win each of his first three starts while accumulating 750 passing yards or more since Hall of Famer Kurt Warner with the Rams in 1999.
Rush is also the first quarterback since at least 1950 to start and win his first three games while completing at least 60 percent of his passes, accumulating at least 200 yards, and having a passer rating of 90 or higher each time.
Rush played with composure Monday night, made a ton of accurate throws, and never lost his composure traveling. He completed 21 of his final 31 passes for 215 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions, good for a passer rating of 98.2. Those stats would be even more impressive if his receivers had assisted him on a few accurate passes throughout the first half.
Rush didn’t flinch as the Cowboys fell behind in the third quarter following an outstanding 36-yard TD run by Saquon Barkley. Dallas regained the lead by scoring on each of its following three drives, including back-to-back touchdown drives.
Rush joined Virgil Carter of the Bears in 1968 as the only other quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era to lead a team to victory on each of their first three career starts.
Rush demonstrated his fort-holding abilities when Prescott was out of the game.
“Yeah, that’s the job,” Rush said. “You’ve got to come in and you’ve got to play well every week. That’s how this league works at every position. Week-in and week-out you’ve got to show up and you know we were able to build some momentum last week and it carried into this week, and we just don’t hurt ourselves and keep staying on track and making plays, I think we’ll do alright.”
Dallas might have been doomed when Prescott suffered a hand injury in Week 1. Instead, they excelled by winning consecutive games.
“It tells you the kind of team you have,” McCarthy said of wins with Rush under center. “These guys have been leaning on one another. This is an outstanding locker room. The accountability is very high. The resilience is there, you can see it every step of the way. It’s just like anything, sometimes you have to go through some hard times to get to where you want to go and hopefully we’ve built a good foundation to get to where we want to go.”
No quarterback controversy exists in Dallas. It’s Dak’s team when he’s healthy.
Rush, however, has shown to be a calming influence who can direct the offense while still allowing the Cowboys’ playmakers room to operate. Not much more can be expected of a backup quarterback.
