ARLINGTON, Texas — Despite playing longtime backup Cooper Rush in every game since quarterback Dak Prescott’s season-ending injury (torn hamstring in Week 9 at the Falcons), the Dallas Cowboys brought a change.
Trey Lance, the third overall pick in 2021 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers, was the Cowboys’ starting quarterback for the team’s Season 18 finale against the Washington Commanders on Sunday. In the 23-19 loss, Lance completed 20 of 34 passes for 244 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. He also had six carries for 26 yards.
Lance’s play means Rush has not reached his full playing time for the 2024 season. Jonathan Jones, CBS Sports NFL Insider reported Thursday that Rush will earn $500,000 in incentives if he plays 55% of the team’s snaps in 2024. Entering Week 18, he has played 52.5% of the Cowboys’ offensive snaps. If he had played at least 65 snaps, that probably would have been enough to earn him his $500,000. But with Lance starting and playing the entire game, that didn’t happen.
Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy was all in on starting Rush while the team was still in playoff contention. The Cowboys have gone 4-4 in Rush’s eight starts since Week 10, and he has completed 61.3 percent of his passes while averaging 209.6 passing yards per game. Rush’s touchdown-to-interception ratio of 11-4 since Week 10 is tied for 17th in the rankings. NFL with MVP candidate Josh Allen, but his passer rating in that stretch is just 86.6, 25th among the league’s 32 qualified quarterbacks during that span.
Rush, 31, and Lance, 24, are both set to become free agents in March, and the Cowboys traded a 2023 fourth-round pick to acquire Lance before their 2023 preseason finale.
“He (Lance) did the right things,” McCarthy said. via the entire city of Dallas, pregame on 105.3 The Fan on Sunday. “If I didn’t think he was ready or prepared in some way and that would prevent us from winning the game, then we wouldn’t make that decision.”
Lance has completed five of his seven passes this season for 22 yards and an interception while rushing for 15 yards on five carries in mop-up duty. The last time Lance had a real chance to play was Dallas’ preseason finale against the Los Angeles Chargers. He threw for 323 passing yards, one passing touchdown and five interceptions while completing 33 of 49 passes. Lance also ran for 90 yards and a touchdown – a 46-yard read-option sprint – on 11 carries.
“Yeah, a lot,” Lance said Wednesday of how much he’s learned since the preseason finale in August. “Honestly, any time you turn the ball over that many times, it’s easier to smile talking about it now than it was four months ago or whatever. Yeah, I learned a lot from it. J I’ve made mistakes, I’ve learned from them, good things, bad things, that’s how it goes.
The 24-year-old sees himself as capable of being a starting NFL quarterback, and McCarthy does too, at least for Dallas’ final game of the 2024 season.
“Yeah, absolutely, without a doubt,” Lance said of his confidence as a starting NFL QB. … “I think if you don’t think that about yourself, then you don’t have a chance, and I truly believe that in my heart. I feel like that’s just where you’re getting from your confidence, what you have faith in I feel like I’ve worked to get here, and I’m not going to stop until this opportunity presents itself, and I’m able to do it. get the most out of it.”
