Dak Prescott injury update is great news for Commanders before Week 4

The Washington Commanders got trounced in their first division game of the campaign. Now, they play the Dallas Cowboys on the road at AT&T Stadium. Fans will (begrudgingly) remember Washington getting obliterated 56-14 in that same stadium the day after Christmas last year.

It was the game Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne got into it on the sidelines. It was a complete disaster. The Cowboys jumped out to a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and expanded their advantage to 42-7 (!) by halftime.

The good news is Dallas is a much better matchup for Washington relative to Philadelphia. That doesn’t mean the Cowboys should be taken lightly, but Dak Prescott taking another week to let his surgically-repaired finger heal would be a big boost for Ron Rivera’s reeling squad.

Jerry Jones has teetered back and forth on Prescott’s potential return date. Since Prescott went under the knife, the Cowboys owner has maintained the idea that his starting quarterback could return for Week 4 against the Commanders.

Not so fast, Jerry.

While speaking to Lorenzo Reyes of USA TODAY Sports, Prescott revealed Week 5 against the LA Rams is a more realistic return date.

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott likely won’t play against the Commanders in Week 4.

“Nah, probably not,” Prescott said of playing Sunday. “But Week 5 against the Rams? That’s the one I’m looking at.”

We get the sense that Prescott could return for Sunday, but Cooper Rush has saved the Cowboys’ season with wins over the Bengals and Giants. No reason to rush Prescott back under center days after he got his stitches removed.

We suppose anything is possible, but Mike McCarthy threw a wet blanket on any speculation that Prescott could suit up vs the Commanders.

"“He still has some swelling that he has to deal with,” McCarthy said Tuesday. “Once he gets past the swelling and the strengthening stage, then he’ll get to the point where he’ll be able to throw. He’ll be dealing with more rehab this week and hopefully we’ll get the swelling and the strength where it needs to be. But I do not have a timeline on when he’ll start throwing.”"

Prescott hasn’t even started throwing yet? Man, Jerry Jones really loves to stir up controversy, doesn’t he? The two-time Pro Bowler needs to be able to grip the football properly and get past the swelling and stiffness in his finger and Jones is floating farcical timetables to the media every chance he gets.

But enough about Dallas’ ego-centric owner.

Rush is exceeding expectations in place of Prescott, so Washington shouldn’t take the Prescott-less Cowboys lightly. The longtime backup has been released three times and was waived during preseason and went unclaimed before signing back to the Cowboys’ practice squad, so he’s playing with a monster chip on his shoulder.

With that said, Prescott not playing would be a massive win for Washington.

Since he was drafted in 2016, Dak is 9-1 against Washington in his career. His numbers in those games? A 67.9% completion rate, 240.7 yards per game, 7.9 yards per attempt and 18 touchdowns to just three interceptions.

The Commanders obviously have their own problems to worry about, but you can’t deny the significance of Prescott (potentially) not suiting up given he’s owned Washington since he took over the Cowboys’ starting job.