Former Texas football QB Garrett Gilbert will start for Cowboys vs. Steelers

Former Texas football QB Garrett Gilbert is in a tough spot this weekend, getting his first NFL start with the Dallas Cowboys against the Steelers.

The news has officially dropped that the Dallas Cowboys will be giving the starting quarterback job this weekend to the former Texas football signal caller and elite five-star local recruit Garrett Gilbert. Injuries to a number of the other Cowboys quarterbacks that sat higher up on the depth chart than Gilbert caused head coach Mike McCarthy to get to this point.

What makes this matter even worse for McCarthy and the Cowboys is that Gilbert will be getting his first career NFL start against the undefeated 7-0 Pittsburgh Steelers and head coach Mike Tomlin out of the AFC North. The Steelers are one of the best teams in the NFL this season, and the Cowboys have just two wins.

Through his time in the NFL to date, Gilbert has registered just two completions on six passing attempts, for 40 passing yards, no passing touchdowns, no rushing touchdowns, and no picks. He’s had numerous different stops around the NFL, including with the likes of the Carolina Panthers, St. Louis Rams, Cleveland Browns, and New England Patriots.

Gilbert and former Central Michigan quarterback Cooper Rush could both be getting snaps for the Cowboys this weekend. Rush was on the Cowboys before, but didn’t start out the season with the active roster.

The Cowboys got to this point starting with a season-ending injury to the former Mississippi State Bulldog Dak Prescott. And then former Cincinnati Bengals and TCU Horned Frogs quarterback Andy Dalton got injured himself a few weeks back.

And nothing really went right for the former Pitt Panthers and James Madison Dukes quarterback Ben DiNucci in his start for the Cowboys against the Philadelphia Eagles. DiNucci wound up getting benched in favor of the former Longhorn and SMU Mustang Gilbert for this weekend’s tough matchup against the Steelers.

During his time playing for Texas and SMU in college, Gilbert registered 9,761 passing yards, 49 passing touchdowns, 45 interceptions, just over 1,000 rushing yards, and 20 rushing touchdowns. He transferred to SMU prior to the start of the 2012 season.