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FRISCO, Texas — To borrow a line from the legendary antics of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson: finally, the pass rush has come BACK to the Dallas Cowboys. At least, that's what the hope is going forward, the flatline through the first four weeks giving way to a heartbeat on the defensive's EKG, terrorizing an extremely mobile Justin Fields on their way to a convincing victory over the New York Jets.
Was it a perfect outing? No, it was not, as the usually stout run defense (man, I really just typed that sentence about the Cowboys) had a bad day at the office while the pass rush came alive like The Undertaker popping open the casket door ringside.
Now to find out if the Cowboys can sustain it, because the better they are at getting home against the quarterback, the biggest void they'd yet to fill before traveling to MetLife Stadium to face the Jets, the more effective their secondary can be in not allowing explosive plays — evidenced by the glaring lack in downfield plays allowed by the defense this past week where, previously, it was a free-for-all for Russell Wilson, Caleb Williams and Jordan Love.
As the second quarter of the 2025 season gets underway, let's dive into the ongoings of the defensive line as Matt Eberflus begins his coordinator era in Dallas.
SackReligious
They say sacks come in bunches, and that came true for the Cowboys when they took down Fields five times and forced him to face pressure on 27 (50%!!) of his dropbacks, and this was despite blitzing him less than one out of every four of those pass plays.
At one point, I thought I saw the ghost of Paul Bearer on the field.
To illustrate what actually occurred in the Big Apple, take a look at some of these eye-popping stats from the contest, per NGS:
- The Cowboys' defense recorded a 50.9% pressure rate in their Week 5 victory over the Jets (the highest this season).
- Dallas averaged only 2.32 seconds to generate pressure (the fastest this season).
- 12 separate Cowboys defenders recorded at least one pressure in the game, with nearly every defensive player who rushed the passer (12 of 14) successfully generating pressure.
And with a special nod to two players in particular: the continued success of James Houston and the breakthrough outing for Dante Fowler Jr., who would love to forget about most of the first four contests coming off of a career season with the Commanders in 2024.
- Fowler generated a team-high in pressures (8) on 26 pass rushes (t-2nd most in a game for him since 2018).
- Six of those pressures from Fowler occurred in less than 2.5 seconds (tied for the most for him in a game since 2018).
- Houston recorded five pressures in the game (tied for the most in his career).
Who in the blue hell is James Houston?!
Through Week 5, this is where everyone on the defensive line depth chart stands, for those who have registered production in sacks and/or pressures:
Sacks:
- James Houston - 3.5
- Kenny Clark - 1.5
- Sam Williams - 1
- Osa Odighizuwa - 1
- Dante Fowler, Jr. - 1
- Marshawn Kneeland - 1 (missed Week 5 with injury)
Pressures:
- Dante Fowler, Jr. - 16
- Sam Williams - 13
- Kenny Clark - 12
- Donovan Ezeiruaku - 10
- Osa Odighizuwa - 9
- James Houston - 9
- Solomon Thomas - 6
- Jadeveon Clowney - 6
What's most impressive about Houston is in how he's successfully transferred his as one of the biggest standouts in this year's training camp into Week 1 and beyond, making at least one game-changing play per game, and sometimes multiple ones — e.g., strip sack fumble recovery against Jordan Love, his 1.5-sack game against Fields — leading the entire team in sacks and laying the smackdown on QBs frequently.
I can hear you wondering why Houston isn't seeing much playing time, and that tune playing in your mind right now has admittedly been on repeat in mine as well, and for weeks, so let's talk about it for a moment.
Snap Judgment
Ah, playing time, it does matter, now doesn't it?
Consider Houston was an unheralded free agent signed to a one-year deal who some outside of the building might've viewed as a camp body, and his efficiency is nearly off the charts, given he's doing all he's doing in the pass rush while seeing only a fraction of the playing time as others atop the depth chart.
Defensive snap count:
- Kenny Clark - 214 (63.7%)
- Osa Odighizuwa - 205 (61%)
- Dante Fowler, Jr. - 143 (42.6%)
- Donovan Ezeiruaku - 153 (45.5%)
- Marshawn Kneeland - 105 (31.3%)
- Sam Williams - 169 (50.3%)
- Solomon Thomas - 150 (44.6%)
- James Houston - 79 (23.5%)
- Jadeveon Clowney - 51 (15.2%)
You're reading this correctly: Houston has only 28 more snaps than does Clowney, despite the latter debuting for the Cowboys in Week 4 against the Packers, and yet there's Houston leading the charge with sacks and, though he's not near the top of pressures generated in Dallas, he's getting home (remember I said that was a major problem for the others involved in the pass rush?) more than one-third of the time when he's in the opposing backfield.
Do you smell what Houston is cooking?
In other words, when Houston gets into the backfield, his sack probability (and speed to sack) is one of the best in the NFL. This is all to say that if the other defensive linemen can replicate success going forward in much the way Houston has been able to, they'll find a groove and right in time to insert DeMarvion Overshown into the group of linebackers like a shot of adrenaline into the heart of Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction.
Note: Only Kenny Clark (67.3%) has recorded a playtime percentage over 60% among Cowboys defensive linemen on early downs this season.
On third down, Osa Odighizuwa (77.8%), Sam Williams (77.8%) and Clark (66.7%) lead the group in playtime while no other Cowboys defensive lineman has played on more than 37% of snaps. (pregame)
As for Houston though, there's a distinct reason the Cowboys aren't fully unleashing him, and they're not wrong in their view of it. Simply put, for as exceptional as he's been in the pass rush, he's a bit of a liability in run defense, at least for now.
So if you're one of the millions … and millions … of Houston's fans, it's important to understand all of the science behind his start to the season.
Run stuffs:
- Solomon Thomas - 5
- Kenny Clark - 4
- Osa Odighizuwa - 4
- Donovan Ezeiruaku - 3
- Marshawn Kneeland - 2
- Sam Williams - 2
- James Houston - 1
This is the Achilles heel for Houston, but one could also make the argument that more reps equals more refinement, but at the expense of who, in that area, when the Cowboys need to keep defending the run at a high level (the Breece Hall outing notwithstanding) without sacrificing pass rush, but also needing to ratchet up its pass rush (like they did against Justin Fields) without losing something in run defense?
It's not an easy decision to make, or at least not as simple as it would appear on its face, and it's something for you to consider there, regardless of your tilt.
Things won't get any easier for the defensive line going forward, that much is promised, but the Cowboys need to take that breakthrough game against the Jets and use it as a confidence booster to remind themselves of what they could be capable of in 2025.
And then stare opposition in the face with the energy of one of classic quote from "The Rock":
Just bring it.
