Cooper Rush has played in eight games in 2024, starting four while logging a total of 320 snaps. In that time, he’s passed the ball 185 times, completing 112, for a total of 1,008 passing yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. His 48.0 grade at Pro Football Focus ranks him last in the NFL by a rather significant margin and his -0.027 EPA+CPOE composite score backs up such a claim (also last in the NFL).
It’s safe to say at this point the Cowboys know what they have in Rush. Despite banging out two consecutive wins, he’s not a quarterback that elevates a team. And despite calls to open up the offense and take more shots downfield, Mike McCarthy appears to be doing the smart thing with his replacement QB by taking a conservative approach.
The Cowboys opponent in Week 14 begs such a conservative attack. The zone-happy Bengals defense ranks 28th in EPA/dropback, 29th in rush EPA allowed and 30th in total EPA allowed. They are vulnerable to both the run and the pass and as long as Dallas plays within themselves, they should be able to find success against the Cincinnati defense.
In situations such as this it will be tempting for the Cowboys to take shots down the field. That’s not only unnecessary, but it asks Rush to succeed in an area of personal weakness. Based on FTN Data shown by Doug Analytics, Rush has thrown catchable deep balls on less than 30 percent of his attempts this season. He’s also bottom three in attempts and catchability percentage.
PFF tracking shows Rush has attempted 16 passes of 20 or more yards and completed just four of them for a 25 percent completion rate. One of those passes qualified as a big-time throw and one pass qualified as a turnover worthy throw. It’s arguably the biggest inefficiency in his game, making the case for McCarthy to avoid deep passes with Rush at the helm.
Even in the 10–19-yard range Rush has struggled in 2024. His completion percentage sits at just 40 percent and this intermediate range grades as his poorest on the field with him throwing three times as many turnover worthy throws than big time throws.
For as much as the Cowboys running game and defense have struggled in 2024, they are areas Dallas simply has to lean on in order to win games. Combined with a dink and dunk passing attack that plays inside the numbers, the Cowboys are best positioned to win games behind Rush at QB.
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