We now have a better feel over who is Andy Dalton’s Dallas Cowboys backup quarterback.
The Dallas Cowboys made some changes to the quarterback room to back up Andy Dalton.
These decisions were made after starter Dak Prescott suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Week 5’s win over the rival New York Giants. Dalton is in his first season with the Cowboys after having been the Cincinnati Bengals starting quarterback for nearly a decade. He’ll do just fine filling in for Prescott, but we have an update on how the Cowboys quarterback depth chart looks.
Moving into the backup job is 2020 seventh-round pick Ben DiNucci, who had a great deal of success at the FCS level quarterbacking the James Madison Dukes. Coming over by way of the Cleveland Browns practice squad is Garrett Gilbert. Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy made it clear that DiNucci would be Dalton’s primary backup and not Gilbert this week.
“Frankly, I’m not as concerned about Andy Dalton’s preparation as much as I’m focused on Ben DiNucci’s,” said McCarthy on Thursday to Calvin Watkins of The Dallas Morning News. “We have to make sure that the No. 2, that’s where the biggest preparation and change is going on.”
Mike McCarthy has a ton of faith in Andy Dalton, as well as Ben DiNucci.
Dallas doesn’t have to set the world on fire to win the NFC East this year. The Giants and the Washington Football Team are terrible and the Philadelphia Eagles can’t seem to get out of their own way most weekends. It may not be a glamorous division title, but if the Cowboys can get to 9-7 or even 8-8, that might be enough to win their third NFC East crown in five seasons.
The Cowboys have an extra day before their Week 6 game, as they will host the Arizona Cardinals in the second game of the Monday Night Football slate. The plan is for Dalton to have the offense built around his skill set. That might mean more carries for running back Ezekiel Elliott. Though McCarthy may like what he sees out of DiNucci, it’ll be a disaster if he sees the field at all.
Dallas’ quarterback room adjustments make sense, but leave very little margin for error in 2020.