The Cowboys came out of Week 1 with a loss to the Giants, but they also got one unmistakable bright spot from a defense that spent most of the night searching for answers.
Dallas fell 28-20, and Christian Parker’s unit had a rough time across the board. Jaxson Dart and Isaiah Likely were problems the Cowboys never really solved, and New York handed Dak Prescott his first loss since 2016. Still, buried inside the mess was a performance that should have Dallas fans paying close attention to Donovan Ezeiruaku.
The second-year edge rusher was everywhere. He finished with seven solo tackles, three run stops, a forced fumble that Dallas couldn’t recover, and two pressures.
While much of the Cowboys’ front seven labored through the opener, Ezeiruaku looked like a player ready to jump a level. If there were doubts about whether the breakout talk was real, he answered them on the field.
That kind of showing looks even better when you stack it against what he did as a rookie. Ezeiruaku had just 29 combined tackles all of last season, so the jump in activity against the Giants stood out immediately. He was the kind of disruptive presence Dallas needs more of, especially with a larger role in front of him this year.
Pro Football Focus backed up the eye test. Ezeiruaku earned an 86.5 PFF grade in Week 1, which ranked sixth among 98 qualified edge rushers.
His 74.5 run defense grade came in ninth. For one game, at least, he was right there with some of the biggest names at the position.
The five edge rushers ahead of him in defensive PFF grade were TJ Watt at 92.3, Maxx Crosby at 90.5, Abdul Carter at 90.3, Aidan Hutchinson at 90.2, and Dallas Turner at 89.5.
That’s a loaded list, and it makes Ezeiruaku’s start look even more impressive. Watt already has a DPOY, Crosby and Hutchinson are All-Pros, and Carter and Turner are both rising stars. For a 22-year-old who won’t turn 23 until early next week and made only nine starts as a rookie in 2025, that’s strong company to keep.
There’s still a long way to go, and no one is crowning him after one week. But the Cowboys clearly have something here. Ezeiruaku, the 2025 second-round pick out of Boston College, has already shown flashes of what he can become, and with more snaps coming his way, those flashes should be on display a lot more often.
He said before the season that he had put in the work to sharpen his game, and the opener suggested that wasn’t just talk. The hype around him had a reason, and Week 1 gave Dallas a clear look at why.
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DeMarvion Overshowns injury only added to the unease on a defense already trying to regain its footing, and even Brandon Aubreys status as a reliable edge has started to draw more attention after the shaky showing. For a team that entered the season expecting to compete right away, the challenge now is figuring out which problems are temporary and which ones might linger long enough to shape the next few weeks. [Read more 🡒]