The Dallas Cowboys have gone from defensive liability to genuine problem in the space of two weeks, and at the centre of that about-face is new arrival Quinnen Williams and a finally healthy DeMarvion Overshown.
After spending most of the season near the bottom of the league in points and yards allowed, Dallas has stacked back-to-back wins over the Raiders and Eagles and now walks straight into a Thanksgiving showdown with Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs at AT&T Stadium.
Quinnen Williams and a front seven makeover
Before Williams landed in Dallas via trade from the Jets ahead of Week 11, the Cowboys were giving up 30.8 points and 397.4 total yards per game, including 143 rushing yards a week.
Since he debuted, those numbers have flipped hard: 18.5 points and 287.5 yards allowed per game, with opponents managing just 45 rushing yards on average.
On runs specifically by running backs, Dallas has allowed only 2.3 yards per carry in that span.
Williams has been more than a space-eater. He generated a career-high eight pressures in the comeback win over Philadelphia after logging seven the week before against Las Vegas, making him the only defensive tackle this season with at least seven pressures in consecutive games.
In two weeks with Dallas he has 15 total pressures, nearly matching the 19 he recorded in eight games with the Jets.
Teammates are treating him like the missing piece, even if he refuses to let it become a one-man narrative.
Defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa summed up the mood in the room: “Just appreciating the way he’s [Williams] coming in with the energy and confidence, speaking life into the defense, into the D-line room. It’s very much needed and very much appreciated.” Williams’ response to the hype is pure locker-room culture: “one man don’t do anything. It’s not golf. It’s not tennis.”
Dallas has leaned into his presence schematically as well. Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has deployed more five-down looks with three interior bodies on the field, forcing offenses to deal with Williams one-on-one and freeing edge rushers to win off the perimeter.
Combined with improved tackling at the second level, it has turned the Cowboys into a group that can actually dictate terms against the run instead of surviving it.
Owner Jerry Jones has not been subtle about the stakes of that trade. Calling Williams “instrumental to now and the future,” Jones made it clear this level of run-stopping was something the roster had to have, and that Dallas believed it could add that strength without sacrificing pass rush. Through two games, that bet looks justified.
DeMarvion Overshown, the East Texas subplot and Mahomes
Overshown brings the other piece of the puzzle: speed and attitude. Back from a brutal knee injury that tore his ACL, MCL and PCL, he has returned on a managed snap count but already looks like the rangy linebacker Dallas drafted him to be.
His ability to close in space is central to the plan for limiting Mahomes’ scrambles and extended plays.
There is a personal layer here, too. Both Overshown and Mahomes are East Texas products, from Arp and Whitehouse in the 903 area code.
Overshown did not bother hiding how much this game means back home. “East Texas has been talking about this since the schedule popped up, so it’s 903,” he said. “We’re going at it. Somebody gotta win, too. … I know his voice, and he’s gonna know mine too because I’m gonna be chasing him.”
He is not backing down from Mahomes’ legs either. “… They use him a little bit more scrambling and rushing this season, but I’m gonna be fine. I like my abilities, so it’s going to be fun, if that’s what they decide to do. We’ve got a good plan, a good game plan for it. You know, it’s more for me.”
That confidence matters, because Mahomes has quietly become Kansas City’s third-leading rusher and is tied for second on the team in rushing touchdowns. Containing him is not just about pass rush lanes, it is about second-reaction discipline, which puts Overshown’s range and recovery skills directly under the spotlight.
Mahomes respects the new-look defense
This is not the same Cowboys defense Mahomes would have seen on film a month ago.
Over the full season, Dallas still sits near the bottom of the league in scoring defense at 28.5 points allowed per game and 377.5 yards per game, and they have surrendered 29 completions of at least 25 yards, most in the NFL.
But recent form tells a different story, and Mahomes has clearly noticed.
“Obviously, they’ve been in the scheme a little bit longer and then they’ve added players, they’ve also gotten players healthy. You see that they’re playing at a higher level than they were playing at the beginning of the year,” Mahomes said this week. “That comes with being more comfortable with the scheme that you’re in. They’re coached really well by Coach Eberflus. They fly around to the football and they’re kind of in the same situation as us, it’s kind of all on the line. You have to go out there every single week and play your best football. And they’ve responded these last few weeks and played really good football, so it will be a great challenge for us.”
Kansas City’s own red-zone issues add another layer of complexity.
The Chiefs have generated one of the highest volumes of red-zone trips in the league but have turned only 59.6 percent of them into touchdowns, while Dallas has allowed opponents to score on 69 percent of their red-zone possessions, including three touchdowns on three trips by the Eagles last week before the comeback clampdown.
If Williams continues to win inside and Overshown cleans up Mahomes’ scrambles, that red-zone math could tilt for once in Dallas’ favour.
The trench war that decides Thanksgiving
The headline act will always be Mahomes versus Dak Prescott, but the tipping point on Thanksgiving looks far more likely to come at the line of scrimmage.
Dallas has reshaped its identity around a fortified run defense and an aggressive, flexible front built around Williams. Overshown brings East Texas urgency and closing speed that directly targets Mahomes’ biggest off-script strengths.
On the other sideline, Mahomes and the Chiefs know exactly what is coming. They have seen Dallas’ numbers improve, they have heard the noise about Williams, and their quarterback has already framed this version of the Cowboys as a higher-level challenge than the early-season tape suggested.
Dallas may still be carrying its ugly season-long stats, but in the short window that actually matters heading into this game, the Cowboys defense looks like a unit that can, at the very least, make Mahomes work for every point on his plate.
