FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott appears to be tracking to a return Sunday against the Denver Broncos after sitting out Sunday night’s 20-16 win over the Minnesota Vikings to rest his ailing calf.
Coach Mike McCarthy said he anticipates Prescott participating in Wednesday’s practice, which will be scaled back coming off a Sunday night game, “and if everything goes normal, I would think he would be a full go on Thursday.”
The Cowboys took a calculated risk by not playing Prescott against the Vikings in hopes that the calf injury, which he suffered on Oct. 17 in an overtime win against the New England Patriots, would not be a lingering issue with a second week off after coming off the bye.
Prescott did not practice last week, taking part only in the walk-throughs, as he focused mostly on his rehab. While Prescott wanted to play, his backup, Cooper Rush, threw for 325 yards and two touchdowns — including the game winner to Amari Cooper with 51 seconds remaining — in the first start of his career.
McCarthy had not spoken to Prescott on Monday, but he had a conversation with director of rehabilitation Britt Brown.
“He said they had a really good day today. That’s the feedback he gave me,” McCarthy said.
Last Thursday, Prescott pushed his rehab and felt sore the next day. He thought he had pushed it to 80-85%, while Brown countered with 70%. According to the GPS trackers, the percentage was 77.5%, according to McCarthy.
“I think that tells you how in tune those guys are of what range they’re working in and so forth,” McCarthy said. “Like I said, we made the right decision and hopefully we can be past this. We’re going to take the full week to figure that out.”
Prescott spent the Vikings game on the sideline wearing a headset. McCarthy said the quarterback was listening and offering up advice to Rush at times.
“He was very much involved,” McCarthy said.