COWBOY UP FOR NEW QB
Dallas Cowboys seventh-round rookie QB Ben DiNucci ready for `opportunity of a lifetime' vs. Eagles
FRISCO, Texas — On Wednesday, Ben DiNucci confronted Dak Prescott.
“Hey,” the Cowboys rookie quarterback told the veteran ,“this isn' t what you said my rookie year was going to be like.” Prescott laughed.
“Go out there and do you,” Prescott said, according to DiNucci, the 23- year- old preparing to start in Philadelphia on Sunday night. “Take completions. Trust the guys around you. You'll be great. Don't overthink it. Football's football.”
Confidence, Cowboys teammates and coaches say, is a trait DiNucci does not lack.
But he admit she would have asked you to pinch him if you told him a year ago he would be in this position. The Cowboys, for whom Prescott started 72 consecutive games, including the playoffs, might have requested the same.
When the Giants faced Dallas on Oct. 11, Prescott was leading the league in passing yards (422.5 per game), Andy Dalton had played two offensive snaps on the season and an inactive Di Nucci ' s activity was limited to a pregame throwing lesson.
Then Pres cot tsuffe red a season-ending compound fracture and dislocation of his ankle.
Two weeks later, Dalton absorbed aheadfirst blow so fierce it knocked his helmet off, his unprotected head again then hitting the grass of Washington's FedEx Field. Dalton was unable to practice this week as he remained in concussion protocol. DiNucci took first-team snaps as he prepared to suit up as the Cowboys' starter at Philadelphia.
“I think in the span of 10 days I went from being in a sweatshirt and sweat pants to here we are, my number could be called. This is everyone's childhood dream, right? The chance to be the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. What more could you want? For me, this is an opportunity of a lifetime.”
Welcome to 2020, he says.
“I think in the span of 10 days I went from being in a sweatshirt and sweat pants to here we are, my number could be called,” DiNucci said Thursday afternoon. “This is everyone's childhood dream, right? The chance to be the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. What more could you want?
“For me, this is an opportunity of a lifetime.”
The Cowboys selected Di Nu cc ii nth es even th round, 231st overall, of
the 2020 NFL draft. The pick was in line with head coach Mike McCarthy's philosophy of perennially developing a quarterback.
On the field, McCarthy liked Di Nucci' s accuracy and mobility. DiNucci played two seasons at James Madison University after transferring from Pittsburgh. In 2019, he completed an Football Championship Subdivision-best 70.9% of his passes f or 3,441 yards and 29 touchdowns with six interceptions.
“What people don' t realize is he can run a little bit,” Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott said. “So he'll be able to get outside t he pocket and make some plays.”
Off the field, McCarthy related to DiNucci as a fellow Pittsburgh native whom McCarthy' s brother had coached on the eighth-grade basketball court.
DiNucci let McCarthy know that when they found themselves in the same Frisco elevator in January, McCarthy freshly minted as Cowboys coach and Di Nu cc i in town for the FCS championship game. DiNucci's elevator initiative displayed a confidence that teammates have noticed as he readies for a possible Week 8 start.
The confidence was evident in Dallas' Week 7 loss, when DiNucci was thrust into the game in the third quarter down 19. In 12 snaps, he completed 2 of 3 passes for 39 yards while fumbling twice (the Cowboys recovered both).
The operation needed to be cleaned up, McCarthy said, but DiNucci's attitude impressed as he told teammates: It's raining, the stands are empty and we've got nothing to lose. Let's create our energy and have some fun.
He maintained that message taking firstteam snap sin practice this week. Right guard Zack Martin touted Di Nu cc i' s swagger, receiver Michael Gallup lauding the command as a deep- voiced DiNucci called out protections.
“Slinger,” linebacker Jay lon Smith said of DiNucci. “Full of confidence. And that's what I love: You see a fire in his eyes.”
Ben DiNucci, Cowboys rookie quarterback