National Football League

With Dak Prescott hurt, where do Cowboys turn now?

Updated Sep. 12, 2022 6:07 p.m. ET

The Dallas Cowboys are officially last in the NFC East.

And to add insult to injury — or, just to add injury — the squad will be without its starting quarterback for the next 6-8 weeks.

It's a painstaking reality for the team's front office, which now turns to backup signal-caller Cooper Rush to preserve its playoff hopes after Dak Prescott suffered a fracture in his hand during Sunday's 19-3 loss to Tampa Bay. FS1's Craig Carton says Rush is not the answer to the Boys' problems, though.

Carton argued that Dallas' best bet is to scan the market of available QBs for external aid. The optimal starting place: San Francisco, home of one Jimmy Garoppolo.

"I do have the solution for the Cowboys' immediate problem," Carton said Monday on "The Craig Carton Show." "I'm not sure how I can make it happen, but I do think the solution is there, and let me just first say, the answer is not Tony Romo.

" … Does Jimmy Garoppolo not make the most sense right now? If they really think that they've got all the other pieces in place — they don't — but if they think they do, that guy's not gettable right now?"

"Undisputed" cohost Skip Bayless doesn't believe venturing elsewhere for help is necessary and is banking on Dallas' defense to carry it until Prescott returns.

"What did I tell you through the whole preseason?" he asked. "This team will go as far as Micah Parsons, 11 from heaven. That defense carried this team, and it very nearly carried them to victory last night over Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. … He managed to score all of 19 points at Jerry World. If you told me going in we would hold the GOAT to 19 on opening Sunday night I would say, ‘Thank you, God. NFC Championship, here we come.'

"I should've just kept my damned mouth shut [about Dak Prescott]. I heaped too many expectations on him … jinxed him again, and all it did last night was rain on Dak. And he was drowning in that rain. … Last night, he was pathetic, and it was one of the worst games he's ever played."