The Cowboys will hold a private vigil on Tuesday night for players, staff members, and family members to remember defensive end Marshawn Kneeland, who died by suicide on Thursday. Kneeland’s shocking death, as Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said on Tuesday, was a reality check.
“Sports emphasizes so many things that we all want, to some degree, to hang our hat on. But this is a reality check that at the end of the day,” Jones said, speaking publicly for the first time after Kneeland’s death on 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM). “The human things of having someone’s company on earth, being able to be involved with them for the time that we’re here, they’re here, all of those things come to mind in times like this.”
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It’s also a reality that the Cowboys, 3-5-1 currently, have eight more games left in this season. Jones made it clear that the team would honor Kneeland the rest of the season: not only with decals and pregame warm-up shirts, but in the way that they played. There’s no question about that.
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As for the rest of the Cowboys’ season, there are football-related questions — as somewhat trivial that may seem at this time — about how the team will play its last eight games. With that in mind, let’s ask and answer five of them.
Can Quinnen Williams be the answer?
I posed this fill-in-the-blank question on X after the Cowboys acquired Williams from the New York Jets at the trade deadline: he is the most talented Cowboys defensive tackle since … ?
There were over 150 responses. The most common answer was La’Roi Glover, who played for the Cowboys from 2002-05 as a part of a six-time Pro Bowl career. While there were some other candidates, the most common answer was telling: because that means the interior defensive line, for the most part of two decades, has been a wasteland, where high picks went unfulfilled, and answers to a defensive line that struggled to stop the run were more elusive than the ball carrier that had success against it.
The Cowboys traded for Kenny Clark before the season in the hopes of solidifying a front led by newly-extended Osa Odighizuwa. While the entire defense has struggled, the run defense has, too, of late. The Cowboys are ranked 28th in the NFL in terms of average rushing yards allowed per game.
With Williams — the No. 1 rated defensive tackle against the run among qualified players, according to Pro Football Focus’ grade — entering the fold, could the Cowboys finally have a front that’s good against the run? There’s optimism for it. We’ll see if it comes to fruition.
What about the reinforcements?
In the mind of the Cowboys, they didn’t only add two players over the deadline with Williams and linebacker Logan Wilson, but they also added a few other players. Let’s call them the reinforcements. The Cowboys have high hopes for linebacker DeMarvion Overshown and rookie cornerback Shavon Revel Jr. for when they enter the fold. Both were activated from injured reserve on Tuesday — the final day before their 21-day window closed.
Overshown, in particular, has been the subject of a lot of optimism from the Cowboys.
“We all talk about the rust, not having played, that’s real,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan about Overshown on Tuesday. “But fundamentally I would expect him to step right in and be familiar with what we’re doing, and I know it’s going to be interesting to see how many snaps he gets this first game.”
The Cowboys could have a handful of new starters after the break. Could that be enough to change the tides of a struggling defense?
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What kind of identity will they have?
At the beginning of this season that wouldn’t have been a question. Matt Eberflus had a clear philosophy. They were going to practice his H.I.T.S mentality: hustle, intensity, takeaways, and (playing) smart. They were also going to do it with a mostly zone philosophy and mostly a four-down front.
That didn’t work in the first half of the season. And as the season progressed, the identity of the defense proved to have some wrinkles. Take last game, for example: the Cowboys utilized five defensive linemen in the front. They liked the results, according to head coach Brian Schottenheimer. The addition of Williams will only add to it.
The Cowboys have also incorporated more man amid their mostly zone coverage looks.
The Cowboys, it seems, are beginning to be more multiple: which was something Schottenheimer said he loved about Eberflus when he decided to hire him. Will that continue, or is it just a temporary addition to the defense Eberflus started the season running?
Can Javonte Williams sustain?
This has been a question we’ve asked a lot through the first part of the season. As the season has gone on, it’s looked increasingly more possible. Williams is on pace for 1,352 yards rushing this season. This past game, he averaged over five yards per carry, which marked the fifth time he’s done that in nine games.
The acupuncture that Williams started doing this season, at the encouragement of CeeDee Lamb, must be working.
But with a whole second half on the horizon, could Williams’ workload as the Cowboys’ bell cow work, too? Williams has 139 rushing attempts this season. Dak Prescott — quarterback, mind you — has the next most rushing attempts with 29.
Miles Sanders is out for the season. Jaydon Blue was a healthy scratch last game. Fellow rookie Phil Mafah is still on injured reserve. If the Cowboys need someone to help Williams — a question within itself — then who will it be?
How will the end of this season dictate the next? If at all?
It wouldn’t be easy, but the Cowboys do have a potential path to the playoffs. They made quality additions at the deadline in areas of need, they’re getting healthier at other positions of need, and they still have an offense that can score with the best of them. If they can go on a run, it’s not impossible. The back end of the schedule also isn’t as tough on paper as it was once believed to be. The Cowboys have the 10th-easiest schedule in terms of opposing win-loss record in the NFL.
Still, the Cowboys would likely have to win at least six of their last eight games to have a chance. They’d also likely have to have better records than the Bears and Panthers — two teams that both beat the Cowboys earlier this year.
Their playoff lives are barely in their hands, if at all, but the team’s future is in their grasp. Could a hot streak to end the season affect the way this team is built? The Cowboys have multiple first-round picks — could a successful end of the year coerce them into trading one of those picks for another proven player? Or potentially trade up? Or could a dismal stretch for the Cowboys to trade back, accumulate more picks, and build through the draft?
And what about George Pickens? He’s an impending free agent. He’s been great alongside CeeDee Lamb, but there are questions about the chance of building a championship contender when you have two highly paid wide receivers. The Bengals, for example, have that. They also have the worst defense in the NFL, according to most metrics.
There’s still a lot left to figure out for the Cowboys over the remaining eight games.
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