Why isn’t Dak Prescott playing for the Cowboys against the Bucs in week 16? Latest injury update

The Dallas Cowboys have been forced to make do without starting quarterback Dak Prescott since the Week 9 defeat to Atlanta at the start of November.

That was the last time the 31-year-old turned out for Mike McCarthy’s team, whose season has been dogged by injury problems. Prescott, who has made just five appearances during the current campaign, won’t be back until 2025.

What injury does Prescott have? When will he be back?

Prescott suffered a partial tendon avulsion in his hamstring in Dallas’s Week 9 defeat to the Atlanta Falcons on 3 November. In layman’s terms, the muscle has become slightly detached off the bone. He underwent season-ending surgery 10 days after suffering the injury, and the recovery time is around three months.

That is twice as long as the Cowboys would have had to wait had they opted for a conservative, rest and rehab treatment, which would have kept Prescott sidelined for approximately six weeks.

But considering the team’s position and chances of making it to the playoffs, it was decided that surgery was the best route to ensure the quarterback makes a complete recovery.

“My plan is to start OTAs [organized team activities] and start the offseason no restrictions, full go,” Prescott told CBS earlier in December, adding: “At that point, [I’ll be] just doing everything I can to be the best quarterback and leader of this team to help this team come in next year with the best outfit that we can.”

What are the Cowboys' 2024 stats with Prescott at QB?

With Prescott under center, the Cowboys went 3-5 in their opening eight games of the 2024 season. The quarterback, who in September signed a four-year, $280m Cowboys extension that makes him the NFL’s highest-paid player, threw for 1,978 yards, 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions, completing 185 of his 286 attempted passes.

What are the Cowboys' 2024 stats without Prescott?

While Prescott has been recovering, back-up Cooper Rush has started five games in a row at QB, with a similar win percentage: since Week 9, Dallas have gone 3-3 for an overall record of 6-8 - not eliminated from the race for the playoffs but as good as.

The Cowboys can no longer win the NFC East division and have only the 13th-best record in the NFC conference, leaving them with only a 1.3% chance of making the playoffs, per Pro Football Network’s Playoff Predictor. The NFL’s Next Gen Stats platform offers an even more pessimistic forecast, placing Dallas’ postseason odds at under 1%.

In his five games as the Cowboys’ starting quarterback, Rush has thrown for 1,405 yards, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions, with a 59.6 percent completion percentage.

Bucs vs Cowboys: when, where?

The Panthers host the Cowboys today, Sunday December 15, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT. Viewers in the US can watch the action live on FOX. If you don’t have cable, you can stream FOX’s coverage on the online service fubo, which offers a free trial.