Michael Irvin: 'Absolutely Asinine' for Cowboys to Use Dak Prescott Like Cooper Rush

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott will return to the field on Sunday against the Detroit Lions after recovering from a fractured thumb he suffered in the team's season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He will be heavily compared to backup Cooper Rush, who went 4-1 in his absence.

While Rush was impressive, Prescott adds another element to the Dallas offense that his backup can't, and former Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin thinks Mike McCarthy would be making a mistake if he used Prescott the same way he used Rush.

"There's a reason we're paying him $40 million a year and a reason we're paying Cooper Rush whatever we're paying Cooper Rush," Irvin said, per USA Today's Nate Davis.

He added: "Not to use that other $38 million, or whatever the difference is, is absolutely asinine. Stop asking my $40 million quarterback to do the same things as my [$1] million quarterback.

"I'm gonna ask him to do some more, that's why I'm paying him."

Prescott is a much more efficient passer and rusher than Rush, so Irvin does have a point.

In his five games as a starter, Rush completed 58 percent of his passes for 956 yards and five touchdowns against three interceptions. He threw for more than 200 yards in three of those games.

However, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones appeared to hint at a quarterback controversy brewing before walking back those comments and reiterating that Prescott is the starter. McCarthy made similar comments, saying that everyone knows Prescott is QB1.

"Clearly, everybody in our locker room and everybody in the building, Jerry included, Dak is our quarterback," McCarthy told reporters back in September. "We want Cooper to be successful as possible. So, I think it stops right there."

When healthy, Prescott is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. The problem is that he's only been fully healthy once in the last three seasons. During the 2020 season, he played five games before missing the remainder of the year with an ankle injury.

This year, he has been hampered by a broken thumb in his throwing hand.

In 2021, he appeared in 16 games, leading the Cowboys to an 11-5 record while completing 68.8 percent of his passes for 4,449 yards and 37 touchdowns against 10 interceptions. He also rushed for 146 yards and one score.

If Prescott can stay healthy, the Cowboys figure to be one of the best teams in the NFC and should earn a postseason berth. However, there's still a lot of season left, and Dallas has some tough matchups ahead, including a rematch against the Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 24.