Andy Dalton left the Dallas-Washington game after a dirty play, and he was replaced by Ben DiNucci.
The Dallas Cowboys’ championship hopes evaporated when Dak Prescott was lost for the season due to an injury, meaning the responsibility of getting to the playoffs fell on the shoulders of Andy Dalton. However, through no fault of Dalton’s, his tenure as starter has also been put on hold due to a dirty hit from Washington Football Team linebacker Jon Bostic.
The QB1 job was then handed, by default, to Ben DiNucci, a seventh-round pick who actually ended up completing his first career pass to Amari Cooper.
Ben DiNucci was drafted after a nice career at James Madison in order to backup Andy Dalton
DiNucci backed up Nathan Peterman at Pitt before transferring to James Madison in search of playing time. Intrigued by his accuracy and ability to make plays on the run, Dallas burned a seventh-round pick on him with the intention of using him as a backup to Prescott and Dalton.
After transferring from Pitt to JMU, DiNucci led the Dukes to the FCS Championship, where they lost to North Dakota State.
In his final season with JMU, DiNucci completed 71 percent of his passes on 9.1 yards per attempt with 29 touchdown passes against just six interceptions. He also ran for 569 yards and seven touchdowns. While he doesn’t have a howitzer for an arm, Dallas must like his playmaking ability, and it’ll be up tp him to lead this team until Dalton returns to full health.
DiNucci probably didn’t expect himself to be here, but his accuracy and ability to make plays with his legs might help the Dallas offense. Mike McCarthy and Kellen Moore will try to make lemonade out of the lemons they’ve been given this season with DiNucci at quarterback.