The Dallas Cowboys are riding a three-game winning streak, and with the NFC East tightening up, there's a growing sense that this team is starting to find its rhythm at just the right time. The Philadelphia Eagles’ recent two-game slide has cracked the door open, and Dallas is doing more than just knocking-they’re pushing their way in.
At the heart of this surge is defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, whose impact since arriving at the trade deadline has been nothing short of transformative. Williams hasn’t just added talent to the Cowboys’ defensive front-he’s brought juice, leadership, and a championship mindset that’s starting to permeate the entire unit.
For Williams, this might be the most promising stretch of football he’s experienced in the NFL. During his time with the Jets, winning was more theoretical than actual. Despite his individual dominance, the team never posted a winning record during his tenure, and this season was shaping up to be more of the same under first-year head coach Aaron Glenn.
So when Williams was asked whether this is the best shot at the postseason he’s had in his pro career, he didn’t need to elaborate.
“Yeah,” he said with a grin.
That one word says it all. In just three weeks with Dallas, Williams has found himself on a team that not only believes it can win-but is proving it on the field.
This is the closest he’s come to the kind of sustained success he enjoyed at Alabama, where winning wasn’t just expected-it was the standard. Back then, he racked up accolades like the Outland Trophy and a national title under Nick Saban.
Now, he’s channeling that same energy in Big D.
And the numbers back it up. Since joining the Cowboys, Williams has been arguably the most dominant interior defensive lineman in football.
According to Pro Football Focus, he leads his position group in overall grade (90.8), quarterback pressures (21), and pass-rush win rate (27.1%). To put that into perspective: in just three games with Dallas, he’s already surpassed his pressure total from eight games with the Jets (19).
That’s not just a bounce-back-it’s a breakout.
Even on Thanksgiving, in a game where the stat sheet didn’t fully capture his impact-one quarterback hit and four tackles-Williams was a constant presence, forcing the elusive Patrick Mahomes to work for every inch. He’s already picked up 1.5 of his 2.5 sacks this season in a Cowboys uniform.
But it’s not just about sacks or pressures. It’s about fit. And Williams has found a home on a defensive line that’s firing on all cylinders.
“I just think I’m in the best position when it comes down to, win your one-on-one's,” Williams said this week. “And then I got guys around me like Kenny Clark and Osa [Odighizuwa] that take advantage of their one-on-one's. Just the unit itself, it’s just firing on all cylinders and ballin', so it helps me just go out there and do my job to the best of my ability."
That chemistry is showing up in the run game, too. Before Williams arrived, Dallas was among the league’s worst at stopping the run.
Since then? No team has allowed fewer rushing yards.
That’s not a coincidence. That’s a defensive front that’s found its identity-and it starts with Williams anchoring the middle.
“Everybody executing,” he added. “The coaches calling the plays, and the players on the field executing. Everybody's just doing their job to the best of their ability."
Odighizuwa echoed that sentiment, pointing to a noticeable uptick in execution and cohesion. “Definitely feel like up front, we've been playing some of our best ball and being the D-line that we want to be. I feel like that's been very helpful.”
Now comes a test that could define just how far this unit has come. Up next: a Thursday night showdown with the 7-5 Detroit Lions, a team still very much in the NFC Wild Card mix.
Detroit’s run game, powered by the dynamic duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, is one of the most versatile in the league. It’s the kind of challenge that can expose weaknesses-or prove strength.
For the Cowboys, a win keeps them in striking distance and adds another layer of belief to a team that’s clearly trending upward. For Williams, it’s another step toward something he’s never experienced at the pro level: playoff football.
And he’s not taking the opportunity lightly.
“I think it's getting better week in and week out by the good things we've been doing as a unit,” Williams said. “We still have a lot of things to clean up, a lot of things to get better in, but I think we're going in the right direction to be the defense that we want to be. We got a long way to go, but everybody's up for the task to achieve the goal that we want to achieve."
If this version of Quinnen Williams-and this version of the Cowboys defense-sticks around, they won’t just be in the playoff conversation. They’ll be a problem once they get there.