Since 2023, Cooper Rush ranks 60th out of 64 quarterbacks who’ve played at least 90 snaps when it comes to expected points added (EPA) per dropback. That should make him an easy out when the Houston Texans make the 240-mile drive north to play the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night, right?
It turns out the Cowboys have rallied around their longtime backup before. Rush is 0-4 in the games in which he’s thrown a pass in 2024. However, he was called into action thanks to Dak Prescott injuries in 2021 and 2022 and stood tall. The former undrafted free agent went 5-1 in six starts those two years.
This wasn’t the result of a cupcake schedule, either. In 2022 Rush beat:
- the Cincinnati Bengals, who went 12-4 and made it to the AFC Championship
- the New York Giants, who went 9-7-1 and beat the Minnesota Vikings in the Wild Card round
- the 8-8-1 Washington Commanders, who fielded a top three defense (in terms of yards allowed that fall).
He also got stomped by the Philadelphia Eagles, who went on to Super Bowl 57 that winter, so it wasn’t all great. Even so, across five games and four opponents with .500 records or better, Rush’s Cowboys went 4-1. His stats in that span:
191 passing yards per game, a 58 percent completion rate, five touchdowns, three interceptions and an 81.2 passer rating. His 0.47 EPA/play ranked him 18th among 36 qualified quarterbacks in that stretch — not great, but not abhorrent, either.
Does that mean anything? Well, considering Bailey Zappe was one of the league’s hottest quarterbacks in that small sample size, probably not. Rush can do enough to keep his team rolling, avoiding turnovers and negative plays long enough to sustain drives. But he had a top five defense and a run game whose top two backs combined for nearly 2,000 rushing yards that season.
Rush won’t have anything like that on Monday night. But if he finds a way to trip up a good team with playoff hopes, it won’t be anything new.
