Tag: Ben Dinucci

4 most costly offensive turnovers from Cowboys 2020 season

The Cowboys had a rough of it in 2020, due in no small to their own offensive efforts time. Revisit Dallas’ five-worst turnovers from 2020.

The 2020 season was a wild ride for the Dallas Cowboys, featuring plenty of ups and downs to keep a bizarre and lost year at least somewhat interesting. One of the most frustrating things about last season’s team was how frequently their offensive feats were overshadowed by costly mistakes and memorable implosions. Dallas frequently found themselves trailing in games, putting themselves in tough positions, desperately needing to rally. Most of the time, they came up short, showing only glimpses of the team they could be in the process.

After looking back at the Cowboys’ five best offensive plays by EPA from last year, next is their five worst turnovers by EPA. These are the moments where the Dallas offense stumbled the most, turning the ball over at crucial times and doing their opponents big favors. These moments are painful, and may feel like new to those who might’ve blocked them out since the season ended.

EPA data via nflindex.com.

Cowboys QB position stabalizes after a rocky, tumultuous 2020

What to watch for from the Cowboys quarterback situation moving forward in the offseason.

The Dallas Cowboys’ biggest offseason question mark was answered earlier this week when the club re-signed Dak Prescott to a four-year contract. Prescott’s deal means the most important Cowboys will remain in Dallas through 2024,  and in his own words, for life. The completed extension also means Dallas can move forward and fill out the remainder of their roster accordingly, including the rest of the quarterback room.

Considering Prescott is coming off a severe injury, will the club once again prioritize backup quarterback like they did in the 2020 offseason, or does Dallas feel comfortable with who they have behind their franchise signal caller? Here’s an offseason preview of the Cowboys quarterback position, and what to watch for in the upcoming weeks.

Week 11 Inactives and Captains: Lawrence, Gregory good to go

The captains and inactive lists for Sunday’s game between the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings.

The Dallas Cowboys haven’t been what anyone would describe as the picture of health throughout the 2020 season. Still, time stops for no team and never has that been more true than now as they begin a brutal slate of three games in just 11 days. Here’s a depressing thought: this Sunday may be the healthiest the Cowboys will be for the rest of the season.

With kickoff against the Minnesota Vikings just an hour away, the official inactive lists are available for both teams. The good news for the Cowboys is both DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory will be available despite an illness keeping them out of practice for most of the week. Here’s the official list:

A who’s who of rookies are inactive for Dallas today, including the perennially benched Reggie Robinson, who has yet to suit up for a single snap all season. Defensive end Bradlee Anae is apparently incapable of beating out Dorance Armstrong for playing time will join him as will Ron’Dell Carter who was just brought back from the Indianapolis Colts.

For the Vikings, their most visible inactive player that will have an affect on the day’s outcome is rookie tackle Ezra Cleveland. He had been ruled out of action on Friday, so this doesn’t come as a surprise, but it’s worth noting that he hadn’t missed a snap since returning to the lineup in Week 6.

Their other inactives have played few snaps on the season. Here is the list in its entirety:

Center Joe Looney who remains the starting center in lieu of injured rookie Tyler Biadasz has been named captain for the week. Joining him is crafty veteran Sean Lee and running back and kick returner Tony Pollard.

Jerry Jones: Andy Dalton will be Cowboys’ starting QB when healthy

The Dallas Cowboys will not be tanking in 2020; Andy Dalton is poised to return to starting lineup once healthy, according the team owner.

There will be no tanking for the Dallas Cowboys. No full-on tank, no soft tank, no water heater tank. The only tank for this team is DeMarcus Lawrence. It’s clear that the Cowboys will be trying to win games the rest of the 2020 season, so all of those pining for losses the rest of the way will be sorely disappointed. After all, even bad teams stumble upon wins accidentally, throwing their top-5 draft pick in flux.

Still, some things don’t change, and a team as undermanned as Dallas is equipped to lose even while trying their best. But make no mistake, this team will be putting their best foot forward in attempt to…well, it’s unclear what the goal of this campaign is at this point. Just know that Andy Dalton will return to the lineup as soon as he’s able, according to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

Front offices are the ones, not players and coaches whose jobs are constantly on the line, who sometimes punt away seasons. Still, the Dallas front office isn’t interested in outwardly quitting on a season to earn the kind of draft slot that can bring an influx of picks via trade. If they were, Ben DiNucci would have played quarterback against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday with everyone gleefully watching him throw games away while saying things like “he’s learning on the job.”

The timetable on Dalton’s return is still unknown, but with the team currently on their bye week, it’s likely he’ll be back to take on the Minnesota Vikings on November 22.

[vertical-gallery id=656458]

[lawrence-newsletter]

Cowboys QB Gilbert describes game’s final drive: ‘That’s what you live for’

The journeyman was nearly the hero of the day in the Cowboys’ 24-19 loss to undefeated Pittsburgh, but showed plenty of grit along the way.

For the second Sunday in row, a relative unknown was seemingly plucked from obscurity and found himself the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. And while the Cinderella story didn’t work out last week for Ben DiNucci against the Eagles, Garrett Gilbert came within one play of scripting a most improbable Hollywood ending against the rival Steelers this past weekend.

The sixth-round draft pick from 2014 made his first NFL start after brief tenures with the Rams, Patriots, Lions, Raiders, Panthers, and Browns… with a league-leading stint in the AAF thrown in for good measure. To be sure, the 29-year-old has played a ton of quarterback in a lot of places. But Sunday’s game that came down to the final do-or-die play was the stuff of backyard childhood fantasies.

“That’s what you live for as a quarterback,” Gilbert told reporters after the 24-19 loss in Arlington. “That’s what you live for as a football player. Unfortunately there, those last two drives, I just couldn’t make enough plays for us to finish that one off. But that’s the type of thing that you dream about, and that’s the type of situation that you live for as a quarterback.”

The Austin native was signed by Dallas on October 12 after the season-ending injury to Dak Prescott. After a subsequent injury and COVID-19 diagnosis to Andy Dalton and Week 8’s lackluster performance by third-string rookie DiNucci, Gilbert got the call against highly-touted Pittsburgh.

He made the most of it, ending the day 21-of-38 for 243 yards and a first-half touchdown to CeeDee Lamb. He added 28 yards on three carries on the afternoon, and impressed star running back Ezekiel Elliott along the way.

“He knows our playbook- seems like- in and out. He knows it very well,” Elliott said in a postgame conference call. “On top of that, though, he has some dog in him. He went out there and made some big plays, and he gave us a shot.”

In fact, he almost delivered a walk-off knockout blow against the league’s last unbeaten team. Taking possession at the team’s own 19-yard-line with no timeouts remaining and under 40 seconds to play, Gilbert scrambled to avoid pressure and fired a sideline dart to Lamb for a quick 32-yard pickup, making a miracle finish suddenly seem within reach.

 

“Garrett is definitely a warrior,” Lamb explained afterward. “That’s how I look at it; he kind of was thrown into the fire. This is how he responded.”

But the journeyman passer wasn’t done. Another 20-yarder to Michael Gallup put the Cowboys on the Pittsburgh 29. A short pass to Cedrick Wilson gained an extra six yards.

With four seconds remaining, Gilbert took what would be the game’s final snap.

“We’re pushing everyone vertical, and then had CeeDee coming across the front line of the end zone,” Gilbert said of the last-chance play. “There was a chance for it. I moved up in the pocket a little bit, and I just missed him a little too far inside. I think he had a shot at maybe making a catch there; I’ve just got to give him a better ball.”

Nevertheless, Elliott spoke of the team’s confidence in Gilbert, even in the huddle before the potential game-winning play.

“We work on situations a lot,” Elliott shared. “So I was confident that we were going to get in there and score. We’ve worked that situation plenty of times this season. Didn’t get it this time.”

Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy echoed those sentiments, saying he liked what he saw in crunch time from his fourth starting quarterback of the season.

“Garrett’s poise in that drill was exactly what you’re looking for,” McCarthy told the media after the game. “We talk about the characteristics of the two-minute [drill], and one of them is: you’ve got to be comfortable winning the game on the last play. And that’s what it came down to there. We just wanted to make sure we were in position to win it on the last play of the game, and we obviously didn’t convert. More times than not, you see people try to do too much, but I thought he did a great job managing the clock with his decision-making.”

With the team on a bye, it’s unclear what happens now to the quarterback position in Dallas. Much will depend on how Dalton proceeds through the COVID protocol and how soon he can rejoin the team’s practice sessions. The Cowboys travel to Minnesota on November 22, with the Thanksgiving rematch with Washington to follow four days afterward.

Sunday’s Week 9 game just missed being the biggest upset of the 2020 NFL season. Instead, it goes in the books- rather unremarkably- as the Cowboys’ seventh loss in nine games. But this one felt quite different to a team and a fanbase that had become numbly accustomed to embarrassing performances and humiliating defeats.

In many ways, that made Sunday’s improbable nail-biter easier to swallow.

But for the unlikely would-be hero of the day, coming so close to a win made the loss even tougher to bear.

“Losing sucks, you know?” Gilbert offered. “I felt like our guys played really hard today and played really well, and we deserved a chance to win that game. And obviously, we gave ourselves that chance, but it’s just really tough when all of us together put everything into that thing and then come up short.”

[vertical-gallery id=657423]

[vertical-gallery id=645439]

[lawrence-newsletter]

What the Cowboys must focus on, Diggs Hive, the irrelevant QB Carousel

How long have we suffered through Chris Jones? Trevon Diggs ascent is on! Mike McCarthy is smiling in your face, but is he doing what’s best for the future of the Dallas Cowboys? We play a little fantasy football, according to the coach, about the offensive line and more importantly how the club should focus their energy over the final 8 games.

How long have we suffered through Chris Jones? Trevon Diggs ascent is on! Mike McCarthy is smiling in your face, but is he doing what’s best for the future of the Dallas Cowboys? We play a little fantasy football, according to the coach, about the offensive line and more importantly how the club should focus their energy over the final 8 games.

The first opponent is the Pittsburgh Steelers, we dive into the matchups to watch, try to identify a path to victory and play the percentages with the star power involved. Here’s the first half of Friday’s episode of Catch This Fade!, free to watch and listen to.

SUBSCRIBE NOW TO WATCH AND LISTEN TO FULL EPISODES!

Audio (Patron Tier) | Video (Friend of the Show Tier)

For the low price of a cup of coffee per month, you get to stream full audio from your preferred podcatcher every Tuesday and Friday morning as myself and co-host Patrik Walker (CBS Sports) give the lowdown on the ins and outs of the Cowboys in the most entertaining fashion you’ll find on a Cowboys podcast. William Steele of The Late Night Hype puts the post-production touches on our audio, video and commercials.

For those who are on the Friends of the Show tier, you get full video, including preroll where Pat and I are chopping it up, early access (Monday and Thursday evenings) and bonus content throughout the week, plus discounts on Catch This Fade! events.

It’s an entire movement and we appreciate you taking the ride with us.

Breaking: Cowboys will start QB Garrett Gilbert vs Steelers

The Dallas Cowboys have been playing coy this week over their intentions of who will line up under center in Week 9. In the middle of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, head coach Mike McCarthy has refused to announce who would start …

The Dallas Cowboys have been playing coy this week over their intentions of who will line up under center in Week 9. In the middle of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, head coach Mike McCarthy has refused to announce who would start between Garrett Gilbert and Cooper Rush, two quarterbacks signed over the last couple of weeks since the devastating ankle injury suffered by Dak Prescott.

After Andy Dalton was concussed in his second start, the team moved to seventh-round selection Ben DiNucci who had a hideous performance in Week 8’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. He was clearly not returning to the starting lineup against the Pittsburgh Steelers so it was down to the two journeyman. On Saturday it’s been announced, Gilbert will get the nod.

The Cowboys have one final practice on Saturday before taking on the undefeated Steelers.

Neither Gilbert or Rush have a lot of NFL experience, but Gilbert has been around the block more recently, as he was the best quarterback in the now defunct AAF. In the NFL, he’s thrown just six passes, completing two. Rush, who backed up Prescott from 2017 through 2019, has thrown just three passes, completing one for two yards.

He is more familiar with offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, playing for him last season. Moore was also the QB coach in 2018 and a teammate of Rush in 2017.

On Catch This Fade this week, the argument was made that with an eye towards gathering evidence for who can help most in 2021 as a potential Prescott backup, Gilbert has more upside and thus deserved the chance to start.

It will likely be a short leash as the 2-6 Cowboys are already playing out the string of the season, even if they aren’t admitting it publicly or to themselves.

 

Race Too Close to Call: Cowboys’ McCarthy to ‘have both guys ready’ for QB duty

Dallas is prepping two newcomers- Garrett Gilbert and Cooper Rush- for Sunday’s start versus Pittsburgh, but it may be a game day decision.

The Cowboys are set to trot out their fourth starting quarterback of the 2020 season, and their third in the last three weeks. But 48 hours before kickoff, the identity of the man who’ll take the reins of the 2-6 Dallas offense as the team faces undefeated Pittsburgh remains a mystery.

Perfectly fitting the theme of this week, it’s too close to call, even for head coach Mike McCarthy. He’s pulled the plug on the Ben DiNucci experiment; that much is known. But whether it’s newly-acquired Garrett Gilbert or newly-re-signed Cooper Rush taking snaps against the Steelers come Sunday, the coach has yet to decide.

“We’re still working through the process,” McCarthy told reporters Friday when asked who would get the Week 9 start. “I think the most important point, as far as the goal, is to make sure both Garrett and Cooper are ready. The reps aren’t being distributed equally- and I don’t really want to get into the specifics of it- but just learning from last week’s experience with all the pressure in the Philadelphia game, just to give us the best opportunity, my focus is to make sure both Garrett and Cooper are ready to play in the game.”

One has to believe that Gilbert, a sixth-round draft pick in 2014 who’s bounced around since as a journeyman backup, is the one getting more snaps in practice. He was the AAF’s leader in passing yards, attempts, completions, and passer rating for its eight-week lifespan in 2019, but has thrown just six balls in NFL action.

McCarthy, though, thinks the 29-year-old brings experience with him that doesn’t necessarily show up on a resume.

“He’s played a lot of quarterback. This guy grew up as a quarterback. His father was a quarterback. He knows how to play the position,” McCarthy said of Gilbert. “There’s no lack for confidence or know-how. It’s about getting the timing and the continuity in order as far as running the offense. I find him to have a lot of confidence. He’s been like that since the day he arrived.”

Rush, however, has a little more history and familiarity with the Cowboys on his side. He served as depth in the Dallas quarterbacks room for three seasons, and was cut only when the team signed Andy Dalton.

“I think you’ve got to remember Cooper went through the spring with us,” McCarthy pointed out in his Friday press conference. “He’s in touch with the language and the terminology changes from last year to this year. Conceptually, there’s not an understanding or a need-to-know issue at all.”

Apart from the percentage of practice reps each player is getting this week, McCarthy says the plays being practiced are the same for both passers.

“We’re operating off the same game plan for both.”

The coach admits the starting assignment could literally come down to a gut feeling he has on game day.

“That’s part of it. That’s why you just really pay attention to all the little things that go into playing the position. I think at the end of the day, we have two young guys that don’t have a ton of game day experience, but they’re both very smart. The game comes easy to them. But this is more about the timing and being connected and in touch with the cadence and the operation. These are things you normally knock out in training camp. We’re up against it a little bit with the time in front of us. But both Garrett and Cooper… they know how to play quarterback.”

One strategy McCarthy does rule out, though, is a series-by-series or a play-by-play rotation, similar to the one Tom Landry employed during the Cowboys’ 1971 season with Craig Morton and Roger Staubach.

“We will not alternate quarterbacks. We’re going to give one of them the football and tell them to take it and run with it. We don’t know how long we’re going to be in this situation. I think it’s best to have both guys ready.”

It will evidently be either Garrett Gilbert or Cooper Rush leading the team until Andy Dalton returns from COVID-19 protocol. But like so many other things around the country this first week of November, the answer of who actually got the job will come only after a couple extra days of wondering and waiting.

[vertical-gallery id=657139]

[lawrence-newsletter]

Cowboys Wire Podcast: A kinder, gentler Mike McCarthy emerges amid turmoil

The Dallas Cowboys are 2-6, and getting ready to take on the last remaining undefeated team in the NFL. With the Pittsburgh Steelers coming to town and fresh off a double-digit loss to division rival Philadelphia, one might expect Mike McCarthy to …

The Dallas Cowboys are 2-6, and getting ready to take on the last remaining undefeated team in the NFL. With the Pittsburgh Steelers coming to town and fresh off a double-digit loss to division rival Philadelphia, one might expect Mike McCarthy to be losing his cool.

But with player leaks and throwing his team under the bus in the immediate past, McCarthy was highly supportive of his squad this past Sunday. Was it for real, or is he trying to mend bridges? K.D. Drummond and Ryan O’Leary discuss this, along with the hideous QB performance of rookie Ben DiNucci and what lies ahead in the Week 9 tilt with Pittsburgh.

 

[listicle id=657350][lawrence-newsletter]

News: Elliott keeps chopping for Cowboys, Aldon Smith shows up on injury report

Plus, the latest on who will start at QB in Week 9, Trevon Diggs is making his mark, 3 names to watch, and Dez Bryant rocks his new uniform.

Admittedly, very few Dallas fans had “quarterback controversy” on their 2020 bingo cards. But it’s a guarantee that nobody could have guessed Cowboys Nation would be passionately choosing sides between Cooper Rush, Ben DiNucci, and Garrett Gilbert at the season’s midway point.

Read on to see what Steelers coach Mike Tomlin had to say about prepping his defense for an unknown QB in Week 9. Ezekiel Elliott and Zack Martin also share their perspectives on the avalanche of unforeseen circumstances that have all but buried the Cowboys thus far. There’s injury news, as punter Chris Jones schedules a long-overdue surgery and defensive end Aldon Smith is suddenly bothered by a knee he tweaked in Philadelphia. The latest power rankings don’t hold much to be hopeful about, but Trevon Diggs is proving to be one to watch for the future. All that, plus three names to keep an eye on in the back half of the season, and a former Cowboys stud looks like a horse of a different color in his new uniform. Here’s your News and Notes.