Dallas Cowboys QB Andy Dalton to miss a second straight game, going on COVID-19 list
Quarterback Andy Dalton will be placed on the NFL’s Reserve/COVID 19 list by the Dallas Cowboys and will miss his second straight game, the team announced Tuesday.
Dalton missed the 23-9 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday due to concussion.
Now, he is out of Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers due to COVID-19.
It is unclear if Dalton has coronavirus or came into contact with someone with the virus.
It is also unclear if rookie seventh-round pick Ben DiNucci will start for a second straight week.
DiNucci was a huge liability against the Eagles, where he was seemingly overwhelmed in his first start.
He completed 21 of 40 passes for 180 yards but rarely looked down the field. He was sacked four times and lost two fumbles.
“This NFL thing, it’s hard,” DiNucci said after the game.
Cowboys owner agreed with a blunt assessment of the rookie quarterback on his radio show on 105.3 The Fan Tuesday.
“I think it was a lot for him,” Jones said. “I think we certainly, as a team, paid the price to have him come in under those circumstances, and that’s almost trite.
“It was, frankly, more than he could handle.”
Other options to start for the Cowboys include Garrett Gilbert and Cooper Rush, who was recently added to the practice squad.
The Cowboys are leaning away from DiNucci and will make a decision on Gilbert or Rush by the end of the week.
But the loss of Dalton is a huge setback heading into Sunday’s game against the Steelers, the league’s last remaining undefeated team at 7-0.
His return was one of the things the Cowboys were counted on to hopefully revive their season over the final eight games.
The Cowboys (2-6) have lost three straight games by a combined score 86-22 and have scored just one touchdown during that span.
Dalton is the first Cowboys player to be placed on the COVID-19 list since the start of training camp when cornerback Saivion Smith and receiver Jon’vea Johnson tested positive.
Smith has since been released. Johnson is on the practice squad.
The NFL’s Reserve/COVID-19 list, implemented in 2020 for players who have to be removed from the active roster because of the coronavirus, includes both players who have tested positive and those who have come in close contact with somebody who has tested positive.
Teams are not allowed to publicly announce a player’s medical status, just that he has been placed on the list.
That Dalton has been declared out of the Steelers game likely means that he has tested positive.
Following a positive test, if the player is asymptomatic, he can return once 10 days have passed since the initial positive test or five days have passed since the initial positive test and the player receives two consecutive negative PCR virus tests at least 24 hours apart within that five-day period.
If the player demonstrates symptoms, he can return once at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared and at least 72 hours have passed since he last experienced symptoms.
The Cowboys have a bye after the Steelers game and don’t play again until Nov. 22 at the Minnesota Vikings.
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 1:57 PM.
