FRISCO, Texas – Five games into his rookie season, Cowboys defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku has yet to record his first NFL sack.
While it can be irritating for some to wait this long, the second-round pick isn't sweating it too much because he knows the moment is on the way.
"It's not that it's frustrating, because I know it's coming and when it comes, it'll come in waves. And a big wave at that," Ezeiruaku said. "I know myself, my family, this team, we all waiting. I'm just going to keep working at it."
It's not for lack of effort or getting to the backfield, either. Ezeiruaku currently sits at fourth on the team in pressures with 10 and second in QB hits with five, to go along with 11 tackles and a tackle for loss. In order for that wave to hit, he knows he'll need to step things up.
"I'm getting back there, getting quarterback hits, the ball's just coming out I guess a half a second early for me, but that means I've just got to get there faster and do what I can to make that happen," Ezeiruaku said. "It's coming, we're going to figure this thing out and we're going to get it rolling."
From when the Cowboys drafted him to heading into Week 6, there's been an heavy emphasis on incorporating more power into Ezeiruaku's pass rush. It's been a growing process, with both pros and cons.
"It could be a good or a bad thing," Ezeiruaku said. "It's definitely a good thing to set up some other moves, but I also can't forget what got me here in the first place. Just wanting to continue to get better day in and day out."
What got him to this point was a deep pass rush moves bag that he used at Boston College, which led to him leading college football in sacks (16.5) and earning ACC defensive player of the year in his final season. So how does he balance incorporating more power with sticking to his bread and butter too?
"Just practice, honestly. Trying things in practice, that's what helps me get that balance or figure out that balance on how to do that in game," Ezeiruaku said. "So just getting a lot more reps, and I think we do that, we practice pretty hard here."
One of the things the Cowboys have harped on since the offseason is improving against the run. That's an element of the game that Ezeiruaku takes a lot of pride in, and feels like will help connect all the pieces to the puzzle for himself and the entire defensive unit.
"I always prided myself on stopping the run, so if that's the message here, then our messages and our mentalities align because I know that you got to stop the run in order to get to the passer," Ezeiruaku said. "So it kind of just makes sense and it connects, and I think as a room we just all try to stop that run first, and we know we'll be able to have fun with the pass rush after."
It was something that his collegiate head coach, former NFL head coach Bill O'Brien, thought Ezeiruaku did well during their one season together at Boston College.
"He did a really good job for us against the run," O'Brien told DallasCowboys.com in May. "He was able to set the edge, on plays that were to him or on plays that were away from him, he would chase it down. He chased down a lot of plays, caused fumbles…"
"It's obviously a higher level of competition and he's going to have to improve in his technique and the way that he approaches the running game and things like that, but I think that he'll do that and he'll be a really good player for them."
Speaking of chasing things down, the Cowboys' pass rushing unit displayed their best showing of chasing down the quarterback last week against the Panthers with five sacks. After only recording five sacks as a unit in the four games prior, Ezeiruaku thought that their improvement was the group finally beginning to learn one another's play styles.
"I don't think it was much that changed, I think we just, as a room, we've just been getting more on the same page," Ezeiruaku said. "Just been learning each other the past couple of weeks, we're all pretty much new to each other, so I think we're finally getting things clicking and rolling, and I think we'll just be able to build off that."
Their next chance to build upon that comes on the road against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. It's a team that Dallas has had a lot of success getting home on, combining for 13 sacks on Bryce Young in the last two meetings in 2024 and 2023.
