Cowboys DT Quinnen Williams could be key to stopping Jalen Hurts in his tracks

FRISCO, Texas — For much of the 2025 season, the Dallas Cowboys’ (4-5-1) defense (29.3 points per game allowed, the second-most in the NFL) has been the team’s problem child in comparison to the offense, a unit that is the league’s No. 2 scoring offense (29.6 points per game). However, that wasn’t the case in Week 1 in Dallas’ narrow 24-20 road loss at the defending Super Bowl LIX champion Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys limited running back Saquon Barkley to just 3.3 yards per carry (60 yards rushing and a touchdown on 18 carries), and they held quarterback Jalen Hurts to just 152 yards passing. All-Pro wide receiver A.J. Brown wasn’t even able to be targeted until late in the fourth quarter. What made the difference in the game’s final score margin was how Hurts created plays with his feet. He totaled nine scrambles for 63 yards rushing: those nine scrambles stand as second-most in a game of his career while the 63 yards after those aforementioned scrambles mark his fourth-most in a game off of scrambles. Both his 4-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter and his 8-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter came off of Hurts’ scrambling after escaping the pocket. His seven rushing first downs in Week 1 against the Cowboys stand as his 2025 season high, and almost all of them, five to be exact, came on third down. These plays made the difference in the narrow Eagles victory. “I think Jalen is an incredible player. He can beat you throwing and can beat you running. We have to do a great job of keeping him in the pocket. We learned that in the last game that he can extend plays,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said on Wednesday. “I think you could put their two receivers up there with DeVonta [Smith] and A.J. [Brown] against anybody in the league. They’re very, very talented. At any moment, they could strike. They’re explosive. … Again, I think everybody finds their flow at different times. This is a tough, tough league. At the end of the day, I’m not looking at the film and saying these guys are struggling. I’m looking at this film and saying these guys are dangerous.”

The addition of All-Pro defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, whom Dallas acquired in a trade deadline deal from the New York Jets, could be the X factor in limiting the damage Hurts can do on the ground given his firsthand experience with the reigning Super Bowl MVP quarterback. He and Hurts came to the University of Alabama in the same recruiting class and were Crimson Tide teammates going head to head in practice for three seasons from 2016 to 2018 before Williams became the 2019 NFL Draft’s third overall pick. “I’ve played with him at Bama, probably one of the strongest quarterbacks in the NFL,” Williams said on Wednesday. … “The main thing is just rushing the passer man. Being efficient, rushing with togetherness and chemistry, especially in the defensive line room. Just being effective.” The chemistry is looking strong early on with Williams being integrated into Dallas’ defensive line: the Cowboys allowed a season low in points (16) and tied their season high in sacks (5) in their 33-16 “Monday Night Football” win over the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 11. He led the team with 1.5 sacks while also totaling a career-high five quarterback hits. That led fellow Dallas defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa to say postgame that he “immediately” felt Williams’ impact Monday night. 

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“I wasn’t surprised about their [the defensive line’s] or my performance in general because in the two days we had to practice together [after the bye], everybody in that defensive line room works extremely hard,” Williams said. “Even the [position] coach works extremely hard trying to get themselves right to be able to be effective, dominate and do their job to the best of their ability. So going out with them, I was super confident in everybody because I got a chance to see everybody working and how everybody carries themselves week in and week out.” That early chemistry with Williams could make the difference against Hurts on Sunday afternoon at AT&T Stadium. “He’s [Williams] going to impact the quarterback in different ways,” Schottenheimer said. “Again, it’s going to come down to our rush-lane discipline and our eyes and things like that. Again, you’re caught when he gets out because he has the ability to beat you throwing the ball or running the ball. We were able to look at the game and talk about some different answers and things like that to try to contain him. He’s [Hurts] hard to contain.”

The initial reviews of how the three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle impacts the game even on the Cowboys’ practice are nothing but sparkling, so perhaps Williams’ production will continue to soar to All-Pro-caliber heights with a second full week of work in Dallas before facing the Eagles. “Obviously, he’s [Williams] a very talented interior rusher. … So just going up against him has definitely made me pick up a few things, be a little bit more savvy,” Cowboys Pro Bowl left guard Tyler Smith said on Wednesday. “I think it’s great work. I think we have one of the most, real talk, talented interior D-line rooms in the league right now. Definitely one of the most expensive, but I think it’s a lot of talent in the trenches. I think it does nothing but make us get better each and every day being able to work against guys like that.”It’s not just Williams that will provide a different picture for Hurts at the snap in Week 12: Dallas also added veteran linebacker Logan Wilson at the trade deadline and now has two more young talents at linebacker in DeMarvion Overshown and at cornerback in third-round rookie Shavon Revel Jr. — both of whom returned from torn ACLs in Week 11. 

“I think that’s still just an 11-man thing. It’s going to be more than a one or two-person thing. That goes from as far as like if there’s a play call where somebody is asked to spy, or just a [pass] rush front. You’re asked to contain. It’s just different players assigned to that job,” Overshown said Wednesday. “So I’m pretty sure we’re going to be more dialed in on it this game. That’s really one of the only things that hurt us last game. We’ll definitely be on it this game.”The belief in what the Cowboys defense can be with its overhauled personnel is sky high, and now Dallas has a true chance to test that belief with games against the Eagles (8-2), the three-time defending AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs (5-5) and at the Detroit Lions (6-4), last season’s top seed in the NFC, over the next 12 days. It starts with slowing down Hurts and Co. on Sunday. “We got new guys like Q [Quinnen Williams], Logan [Wilson], Rev [Shavon Revel] and guys like [starting safeties] Hook [Malik Hooker] and Dono [Donovan Wilson] coming back from injury. You’re like ‘OK, these are elite talents in the NFL. Any team goes without this type of caliber of guys, they are going to deal with some issues throughout the season,” Overshown said. “So I think now that ‘Flus [defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus] has his guys in there, and we’ve worked together through the bye practicing together and now we got a game under our belt, it’s really only up from here. I feel like the energy is there, and everybody is excited to be out there.”

2025-11-20 00:21:04