Jason Witten says Cooper Rush reminds him of a young Tony Romo

Adversity didn’t faze Cooper Rush on Saturday night.

The Dallas Cowboys had Rush start the second half and the offense stumbled out of the game. They had a three-and-out in Rush’s first series, and punted again in the second series after gaining only one first down.

Things turned worse for Rush in his third series when cornerback Antonio Hamilton went unblocked and sacked him. Hamilton knocked the ball loose and Raiders linebacker LaTroy Lewis returned it for a 65-yard touchdown.

But Rush responded the right way.

Rush led the Cowboys on a pair of touchdown drives after that, going a perfect 7-for-7 for 83 yards. He capped an 11-play, 69-yard drive with a 7-yard TD pass to Ronnie Hillman and then hit Lance Lenoir for a 44-yard TD.

“At the quarterback position, we have to avoid that sack-fumble,” offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said. “But it was great to see him bounce back. It’s one of the reasons we left him in there, see how he reacted to that. I thought he did a great job.”

Rush finished the game 12-for-13 for 115 yards and two touchdowns. He had a 143.1 passer rating. Throughout this preseason, Rush has completed 38-of-51 passes for 398 yards and six touchdowns with no interceptions.

All of his teammates have taken notice. Veteran tight end Jason Witten went as far as saying Rush is like a young Tony Romo. After all, both were undrafted free agents who made the most of their opportunity.

“Gosh, just his play-making ability,” Witten said. “He just continues to find ways. I’m proud of him. I said it last week, he reminds me a lot of a young [Tony] Romo – play-making abilities, big-time throws.”

Rush’s play have raised debate as to whether he should be the backup quarterback instead of Kellen Moore. Moore completed 2-of-4 pass attempts for 10 yards in his limited time Saturday.

For the preseason, Moore is 32-of-59 for 392 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

“I don’t want to take anything away from No. 17 [Moore], but Rush is really shown well size, good arm, and obviously his competitor and is good under pressure,” owner Jerry Jones said. “By the way, had a lot of pressure out there tonight for a preseason game. That’s not a complaint. That’s not an anything. But they really did have their ears pinned back coming back after the quarterback.”

For Rush, the backup job is within reach. But he’s more concerned about just making the 53-man roster.

It sure seems like that’s a safe bet with another impressive performance.

“It was good,” Rush said. “Winning matters. Coach Garrett talks about it all the time. Preseason, regular season, whatever it is – winning matters.”

As far as Moore is concerned, he understands that Rush is making a compelling case for the backup position.

“We’ll see how that all gets sorted out, obviously Coop’s played tremendous,” Moore said. “We’re all fans of Coop’s. He’s played great, so we’ll see what happens.”

This story was originally published August 27, 2017 at 12:08 AM with the headline "Jason Witten says Cooper Rush reminds him of a young Tony Romo."