NFL
Why isn’t Dak Prescott playing for the Cowboys against the Panthers in Week 15?
The Dallas Cowboys, who are all but out of playoff contention, will have to wait until 2025 to have their No. 1 quarterback in the team.
Star quarterback Dak Prescott remains a long-term injury absentee for the Dallas Cowboys, who head into Week 15 with an extremely slim chance of being among the NFL’s 14 playoff teams come the end of the regular season.
What injury does Prescott have? When will he be back?
Prescott has been out of action since sustaining a partial tendon avulsion in his hamstring in Dallas’s Week 9 defeat to the Atlanta Falcons on November 3. The 31-year-old underwent season-ending surgery 10 days after suffering the injury, and now has his sights set on the Cowboys’ preparations for 2025.
“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 at QB?
In Prescott’s absence, back-up Cooper Rush has started five games in a row at QB, with a similar win percentage: since Week 9, Dallas have gone 2-3 for an overall record of 5-8, leaving Mike McCarthy’s men well off the postseason pace.
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 1,024 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions, completing 106 of his 177 attempts.
Cowboys vs Panthers: 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.
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