Dallas Cowboys: Revisiting quarterback Ben DiNucci

The “Not-so-good” stuff

Mental Processing

Without the ability to look revisit coaches film (thanks NFL…) I couldn’t tell you how good he is at processing the defense, but, I oddly feel last night he read the field okay. When he knew the pressure was coming he usually differed to his hot route or tried to before an inevitable sack. Mike McCarthy had praised DiNucci through training camp for his better understanding of the playbook and I think I’d have to agree with him here, as weird as that sounds.

Overreliance on his arm strength

It’s crazy that I wrote about this two years ago and now it’s probably the only thing that defines DiNucci nowadays. The sidearm, the low arching balls, the bullet balls, DiNucci is chucking the ball everywhere. Much like in his Pitt days, he’ll have to understand where he can get away with throwing the ball because he obviously can’t fit the ball through every tight window.

More from Dallas Cowboys

• Dallas Cowboys Linebackers: 2023 Position Overview
• Ballhawk University: Why the Cowboys will be takeaway leaders
• Dallas Cowboys Player to Watch: Sleeper TE John Stephens, Jr.
• Dallas Cowboys: The impact of Micah Parsons and a well-rounded secondary
• Dallas Cowboys still unsure about their left guard position for 2023

If you asked me, I think if he learned how to set up his feet he’d be able to rely less on his arm strength to complete passes. Getting his hips and feet in order prevents him from whipping the ball with his sidearm everywhere instead allowing the ball to gracefully come out of his hand and in a linear path. Remember, DiNucci has ten-inch hands, the ball will naturally carry good angular velocity on it. If he can “aim” correctly, the ball will likely get where it wants to.

What are DiNucci’s odds of making the team now? Fairly low. His first game was about as uninspiring as it could be. He started the two-minute offense well before a bad drop killed all the positive momentum he had. The offensive line was combusting everywhere, but he wasn’t necessarily helping them out either. Lastly, he understood where he wanted to go with the ball but he forced himself into bad throws by letting the pressure of the defensive line dictate how he threw the ball.

I’d say this isn’t much of a ringing endorsement to make the team…

DiNucci has been a late bloomer at every stage of his football career and it looks like if he is to have any success in the NFL, it’ll likely be after years of being on the practice squad competing against NFL talent. The Cowboys could likely make this happen, which is just fantastic news to Cowboys fans’ ears.