IRVING, Texas (AP) – Quincy Carter was named the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday after two consistent and turnover-free preseason starts.

New coach Bill Parcells chose Carter over Chad Hutchinson, Dallas’ starter the final nine games last season after replacing Carter.

“In the back of my mind, I thought that he was going to be it,” Parcells said of Carter. “I just thought he moved the ball better and had a little bit better presence.”

In his last two preseason starts, Carter has completed 18 of 29 passes for 208 yards and two touchdowns. Hutchinson is 13-of-26 for 129 yards in two games, with three fumbles in 46 snaps.

When Parcells took over as coach in January after the Cowboys’ third straight 5-11 season, he said everyone would have a clean slate. He said he’d make decisions based on what he saw, not what happened in the past.

Through offseason work and four weeks of camp in San Antonio, snaps were split almost equally between Carter and Hutchinson with the first-team offense.

“I just basically have to go by what I see. I looked at the games last year, I didn’t really have a conclusive determination based on that,” Parcells said. “I just thought at the end of the day, Carter gives us the best chance to win right now.

“Hopefully, he will continue to improve as he has through the course of the camp.”

Carter was 8-of-12 for 67 yards in Thursday’s game against Pittsburgh. A week earlier against Houston, he was 10-of-17 for 141 yards, including six passes to six receivers for 90 yards on a 96-yard TD drive.

In 15 career starts, since taking over for Troy Aikman, Carter is just 6-9. After being taken in the second round of the 2001 draft as the Cowboys’ first pick, Carter was declared the starter midway through training camp but played only eight games as a rookie because of injuries.

Carter started the first seven games last season. A day after a 9-6 loss at Arizona in which he threw four interceptions and argued on the sideline with owner Jerry Jones, he was replaced by Hutchinson and didn’t play again.

“It’s just very exciting to have an opportunity to be a leader for this team, to step up to forefront and be a leader again,” Carter said. “I have to seize the moment and play well all season long.”

The numbers for the two quarterbacks were very similar last season. Carter was 125-of-221 (57 percent) for 1,465 yards, Hutchinson was 127-of-250 (51 percent) for 1,555 yards, and both had seven touchdowns and eight interceptions.

While Parcells is inclined to make Hutchinson the backup, he hasn’t ruled out undrafted rookie Tony Romo. Clint Stoerner, the only other quarterback, was one of five players cut Saturday.

Hutchinson has played just nine NFL games after being out of football for four years pursuing a professional baseball career as a pitcher. Parcells said his biggest setback is inexperience.

“It made me look and say, “In the big picture, I’m still just a year in the league.’ It takes a while to get it done,” Hutchinson said. “I’ll look at it that way. The quarterbacks who have been successful haven’t been immediately. It’s taken time to find their game.”

Parcells wanted to get the quarterback situation settled so he could use Thursday night’s preseason finale against Oakland to make adaptations in the game plan to fit Carter’s strengths.

Carter is the more mobile quarterback, while Hutchinson is a prototype dropback passer.

The season opener is Sept. 7 at home against Atlanta, which will be without the injured Michael Vick.

AP-ES-08-23-03 1707EDT