Did Jerry Jones not put Dak Prescott on IR as motivational tactic?

A new theory teases that Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones may have always known about the true nature of the thumb injury suffered by starting quarterback Dak Prescott back in Week 1. 

For a piece published Wednesday, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio suggested that Jones didn't shift Prescott to the injured reserve list last month as a way to motivate his players through at least the subsequent four games. 

"One possibility is that (Jones) believed this would keep the players from potentially giving up on the season," Florio wrote about such a potential tactic. "That if the players thought Dak would be back soon, they still had a chance to fulfill their always-lofty objectives. And that they wouldn’t believe the balloon had been popped on another campaign that commenced with high expectations." 

Initial reports said Prescott could miss anywhere between six-to-eight weeks of action due to the injury, but Jones stated back on Sept. 20 that his QB1 could return to the lineup as soon as the Week 4 game against the Washington Commanders. That, of course, didn't happen, and backup Cooper Rush has guided Dallas to four straight wins in Prescott's absence and is seemingly on track to start for the upcoming "Sunday Night Football" matchup at the unbeaten Philadelphia Eagles. 

Florio added that the Cowboys host the Detroit Lions (1-4) and Chicago Bears (2-3) before their bye and, thus, may get away with keeping Prescott a spectator until the game at the Green Bay Packers on Nov. 13.

Maybe Jones had such a timeline in mind all along.