Cowboys to Make Week 9 Quarterback Change Against Steelers

The Dallas Cowboys are falling off the ladder fast. Despite playing in a “bad” NFC East Division, the team has fallen to third place with a 2-6 record. The Cowboys have lost three straight games and things aren’t getting better.

Dallas will head home this weekend after back-to-back road games but that won’t make things any easier because they will be facing the best team in the league in the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Rare Double-Digit Underdogs at Home

The Dallas Cowboys head to Sunday’s game as +13.5 point underdogs against the Steelers.

This marks only the second time in the Super Bowl era where the Cowboys are listed as a double-digit underdog at their home field. The only time that the Cowboys have been listed worse at home was in 1989 when they were 14.5 point underdogs to the San Francisco 49ers. Dallas lost that game 31-14. Overall, this is the largest underdog role that the Cowboys have been in since they were 17-point underdogs against the Raiders in 2001.

The odds are well-justified though. While the Cowboys are sputtering, the Steelers are rolling. After beating Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens last weekend, Pittsburgh is still unbeaten at 7-0 and they are the only team in the league who has not lost a game this season.

The Steelers have risen to second place in the latest SportsBetting.ag odds board at +550, just behind the Kansas City Chiefs who are at +350, and slightly ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who are currently listed at +575. Meanwhile, the Cowboys have stumbled to +15000 in the latest Super Bowl futures odds.

Dallas is 0-8 against the spread this season and they are the only team in the league who have yet to cover the spread in any game this year. That also puts them in a tie with the 1991 Cincinnati Bengals and the 2003 Oakland Raiders for the worst ATS start in the NFL during the Super Bowl era. And although the Cowboys have +13.5 points to work with on Sunday, things could go from bad to worse.

Making Another Quarterback Change

According to coach Mike McCarthy, the team is going with either Garrett Gilbert or Cooper Rush this weekend against the Steelers. Dallas started rookie Ben DiNucci the last time out and the 23-year old completed 21 out of 40 passes for 180 yards while getting sacked four times and fumbling the ball twice. Dallas lost the game 23-9 to the Philadelphia Eagles. But because the Cowboys are playing the league’s top team in the Steelers, McCarthy says they need more experience from the quarterback position on Sunday.

However, neither Gilbert nor Rush have ever started an NFL game and have combined to throw only nine passes in their NFL careers. However, Gilbert has been in the league since 2014 and Rush since 2016. Both have also played in the preseason and Rush is very familiar with the system.

Whether it’s Gilbert or Rush who will start on Sunday, the Cowboys will be having their fourth starting quarterback this season and their third in four games since resident starter Dak Prescott suffered a right ankle injury in October 11th than ended his season.

Prescott’s backup Andy Dalton was put to the injury reserve list after suffering a concussion in their game against the Washington Football Team. That paved way for DiNucci’s start last week.

This also marks the first time since 2015 when the Cowboys had four starting quarterbacks in one season. That year, Dallas started Tony Romo, Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel, and Kellen Moore. They finished that season with a 4-12 record. Interestingly, the Cowboys are 2-6 this season which translates to the same record if they keep up their current pace.

Wrong Kind of History

Dallas hired McCarthy because of his offensive acumen. He has been a part of some of the best offenses we’ve seen. McCarthy worked with Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay and had success as the New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator with Aaron Brooks as quarterback. But he’s never been in this position before. In fact, no McCarthy coached team has scored fewer than 3 touchdowns during a three-game period. Until now.

Since Dak Prescott’s injury during the third quarter of the Cowboys’ Oct. 11 win over the Giants, Dalton and DiNucci have started 36 possessions and the Dallas offense has produced one touchdown and seven field goals. The lone touchdown came with 2:52 left in their October 19 loss to the Arizona Cardinals with the score already 31-3.

The last time the Cowboys looked this helpless was in 2017 when Elliott was suspended for six games. Dallas lost three straight games to the Falcons, Eagles, and Chargers and they were outscored 92-22 in those games. During the 2015 season when they also used four quarterbacks, Dallas failed to score at least 20 points eight times. Hopefully, McCarthy avoids the wrong kind of history this year.