Regardless of where his confidence level was going into the season, Ben DiNucci had to figure it would be a longshot for him to ever start a game.
Well, here we are.
Dak Prescott was on his way to an MVP campaign for the Dallas Cowboys before a compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle ended his season. Andy Dalton then took over, but he’s now in the concussion protocol because of an ugly hit from Jon Bostic this past Sunday.
So assuming Dalton doesn’t play, it’ll be DiNucci, the first-year pro out of James Madison that was a seventh-round pick of the Cowboys, who will be under center Sunday night when the Cowboys face the Philadelphia Eagles in primetime.
DiNucci bumped into Prescott in the Cowboys facility Wednesday, and he received some sage advice.
“Kind of just walked up to him and said, ‘Hey this isn’t what you said my rookie year was going to be like,'” DiNucci told reporters about the exchange, via ESPN. “He laughed and gave me a hug and just said, ‘We’ve talked about this. Go out there and do you. Take completions. Trust the guys around you. You’ll be great. Don’t overthink it. Football’s football.’ It’s a game I’ve been playing since seventh grade. Not going to try to make it any more than it is. Going to have fun with it, bring a lot of energy, bring a lot of confidence and let my play speak for itself.”
The Cowboys’ season at this point is heading nowhere, and expectations are pretty low for the 23-year-old. So it sounds like the approach Prescott is preaching should be just right for DiNucci.
