After the illegal hit to the head that Andy Dalton took Sunday, it seems unlikely the Cowboys quarterback will clear concussion protocol in time to play against the Eagles.
Dalton did not practice Wednesday, with third-stringer Ben DiNucci taking all the first-team reps. The rookie got his feet wet against Washington, taking 12 snaps and going 2-for-3 for 39 yards with one rush for no yards and two fumbles, both of which the Cowboys recovered.
“Ben’s been up here relentlessly here in the last 48 hours, so he’s pouring everything that he personally can into this opportunity that may be in front of him,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said Wednesday. “He’ll get pretty much all the work this week because I don’t see Andy coming back, at the end of the week at the earliest. That’s the mindset I’ve always had. I’ve been through injury situations. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to make sure you give the football team a chance to win. We can’t just play down to that. The expectation also goes around the quarterback position, obviously just because you’re playing with Dak Precott and you’re playing with Andy Dalton. So just their experience alone plays into how you plan. We need more from others throughout our whole football team. I think that’s stating the obvious. Ben needs to do the right things, and the first is he needs to command the offense and keep us in clean plays and the highest priority is to take care of the football.”
The Cowboys will have Garrett Gilbert as the backup quarterback, and they are signing Cooper Rush to the practice squad, according to the team website.
Rush will have to clear COVID-19 protocols, so he won’t be available this week.
The Cowboys did get right guard Zack Martin back to practice. He was a full participant after missing Sunday’s game with a concussion.
Safety Xavier Woods did not practice, but it was not injury related.