FRISCO, Texas – DeMarvion Overshown is getting more and more comfortable by the week as he heads to the back half of his first NFL season, and it's showing on the field in a big way for the Cowboys defense.
"Just trying to get better week in and week out," Overshown said. "I feel like there's always something that you can work on in your game. My game has translated well to the NFL, but it's all about what can you make better or what can you do better."
A year removed from a season-ending ACL injury in his rookie season, Overshown is now "completely healthy," along with being the Cowboys' leader in sacks (4), second in tackles (68) and first in tackles for loss (3). His speed has been a complete game-changer for Mike Zimmer's defense, as he exploded into the backfield to sack Jalen Hurts twice last week against the Eagles. He might be flying around on the field, but the game is slowing down for Overshown as each game goes by.
"Throughout each week, each opponent, watching more film and really learning and getting more comfortable with this game," Overshown said. "I feel like I've gotten better just by trusting my training and trusting my coaches."
Sunday's loss to the Eagles was also the first game back for Micah Parsons after suffering a high-ankle sprain in Week 4 against the Giants, and the Parsons-Overshown duo made it very clear that they could wreck a game with their combined pass rush and did so in the first half of that game. Now it all goes back to building off it and having the rest of the Dallas defense play off the attention that Parsons will garner.
"Any player that's blessed to play with Micah Parsons will see that he keeps a lot of attention to him," Overshown said. "And if you've got two, three guys blocking one guy, there's no reason why the other ten shouldn't be winning their battles. I definitely don't take that for granted and look at it as an opportunity for me to get mine."
Slowly but surely, Mike Zimmer's defense has made strides as his players get more comfortable in the scheme. It was evident last week with five sacks and two turnovers, but there's still work to be done to meet Zimmer's expectations.
"He keeps his players motivated and expects his players to come in wanting to learn more and wanting to do better," Overshown said. I think when you've got that as a coach and as a leader you never can get too far down, you never can feel like you can't get back up from what y'all just faced."
Although there have been a lot of down points for the Cowboys defense this year, Overshown prides himself on giving his all every snap for veteran players like Eric Kendricks, who are nearing the tail-end of their careers, hoping that his effort can carry long-term effects for the defense's production and his teammates' appreciation.
"I want the best for them," Overshown said. "No matter how this season comes to the end, what's going on with them afterwards, I want this to be a time that they can enjoy and when they can say 'I love playing with D-Mo, I appreciate D-Mo playing his all,' and that's all I want to do, because I know if I was in their position I would expect the same."
Speaking of pride, Overshown is a native of Arp, Texas and attended the University of Texas. Monday night's against the Houston Texans, which he dubbed "The Battle of Texas," has bragging rights on the line, and he firmly believes the Cowboys are the flagship team in the Lone Star State.
"Even though it's a down year for us, we still run the state of Texas," Overshown said. "So we got to go out there with that pride and that mindset of this is still our state, and we're still the big brothers."
