He’s had time to reflect since the Dallas Cowboys’ season ended.

And even longer to do so since being placed at the epicenter of the football universe in November when he made the first start of his NFL career in primetime on national television.

“In a perfect world, I would’ve loved to go out and beat the Eagles,” Dallas quarterback Ben DiNucci, a James Madison alum, said, “and then force [the Cowboys] to take me out the week after we played the Steelers. That would’ve been a full-circle moment for me, getting to play against the Steelers with having grown up in Pittsburgh and been a Steelers fan growing up. But being 100 percent honest, I think that the coaches had my best interest in mind in not playing me again.”

Injuries to Cowboys starter Dak Prescott and backup Andy Dalton left DiNucci with an opportunity he said he never expected during his rookie season, especially considering the two well-known quarterbacks ahead of him on the depth chart.

DiNucci, a 2020 seventh-round draft choice of the Cowboys, appeared in three games. He debuted in the waning minutes of a lopsided loss to the Arizona Cardinals while filling the No. 2 role behind Dalton. Circumstances rapidly changed the following week, though, and in the second half of a contest against the Washington Football Team, Dalton suffered a hit to the head and entered concussion protocol, which forced Dallas to turn its offense to DiNucci.

“That was kind of my welcome-to-the-NFL moment,” DiNucci said. “There was no time for nerves.”

On the first throw of his pro career, he connected with wide receiver Amari Cooper for 32 yards. DiNucci threw the pass up the right sideline between two converging Washington defenders to get it to Cooper.

“I had never even one time attempted to throw that hole shot,” DiNucci said. “And then the first pass of my career is that, so that was cool, and then I was excited and ready to roll into the Sunday Night Football game for sure.”

On Nov. 1, DiNucci started against the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, becoming the first-ever former JMU quarterback to start in the NFL.

He threw for 180 yards, but was sacked four times and fumbled twice. It was during the Cowboys’ 23-9 loss that night that he said began to realize the wide-gap transition between the FCS and the NFL he was trying to make on the fly.

As a senior with the Dukes, DiNucci was an All-American, the Colonial Athletic Association Offensive Player of the Year and accounted for 36 total touchdowns while leading JMU to the FCS national championship game.

“The playbook was probably dumbed-down about 25 percent that week of the Eagles game,” DiNucci said. “But I had a very good grasp on the playbook. I had multiple nights during camp where I stayed up to make sure I got it, because that’s the nature of this thing. You never know when your number is going to be called. And in the case that it is, you’ve got to make sure you’re ready.

“So the biggest difference was just the size and the speed. Coming from JMU and the FCS, you just don’t see guys like that. And so, it took me a little bit to get settled into that game.”

Though the signal-caller was inactive the rest of the season, he learned plenty that night against Philadelphia and in the weeks before and after the setback to the Eagles that he said he’ll carry with him into his offseason training program. He feels like he can incorporate everything he absorbed from Prescott, Dalton, other teammates, Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier into his regimen.

DiNucci said he plans to work with private quarterback coach Quincy Avery again – just like he did prior to his senior year of college and ahead of the NFL Draft. Avery trains other pro quarterbacks like Deshaun Watson, former Virginia Tech standout Tyrod Taylor and Jalen Hurts, and prospects such as Justin Fields.

“I felt more comfortable in the third quarter or fourth quarter against the Eagles than I did in the first half,” DiNucci said, “just because I had tried to force some throws. But I learned you have to take completions when completions are there, check downs are there for a reason and any positive-yard play is a good play. That was one of the things that [Cowboys running back] Ezekiel Elliott came up to me and said after the game.

“He goes, ‘Hey bro, the running backs are always open and so if nothing is there, just check it down and let us do the work for you.’ At JMU, I think, when the pocket broke down, I would just rely on my athleticism to get outside the pocket and make some plays. I found out very quickly that [Washington defensive end] Chase Young is not like any of the guys I have seen at the FCS level, so that was a wake-up moment.”

Over the next few months, DiNucci’s focus is applying what he learned as a rookie on top of trying to perfect the mechanics of playing quarterback and adding about 10 pounds. He said he needs to gain weight to be able to take hits better, and that the fundamental drills should improve his overall game. He wants to tie his eyes to feet as he reads progressions for throws.

DiNucci also hopes for a full, standard preseason with exhibition games.

The NFL didn’t hold preseason contests this past fall because of the pandemic.

“Not having a preseason or many reps in camp,” DiNucci said, “that week of Philly, it was the first time I had ever thrown to Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup or CeeDee [Lamb] in practice. And people don’t understand the nature of how this thing works. Dak would take every single starter rep. Then the backup was running the scout team and I was the third guy. So maybe I’d get one or two scout reps a day and other than that, you’re getting what you can mentally, so I had to get myself ready to play quick.”

DiNucci said when he wasn’t active, his most extensive reps would come two-and-a-half hours or so prior to the Cowboys’ games. Nussmeier would run DiNucci through a 45-minute throwing workout on the field. DiNucci said he improved during those sessions and appreciates Nussmeier for doing that and spending extra time with him after practices, too.

“It was a wild year,” DiNucci said. “I would just say it was incredible, too, and nothing short of what I could’ve ever imagined for what would’ve happened in my first year in the NFL.

“For some guys, it takes them five or six years to start a game and I was able to do that halfway through my rookie year because of injuries. That’s never the way you want it to happen, but I think if you would’ve told me last year at this time that I would’ve played in three games as a rookie and been able to start one on Sunday Night Football against a division rival, I would’ve said, ‘You’re freaking crazy,’ but it was a crazy year.”