FRISCO, TX — There was never a question about the ability of DeMarvion Overshown to impact games at the NFL level for the Dallas Cowboys. The only question was how soon would that begin, given he was redshirted due to a torn ACL suffered in August 2023. The former third-round pick answered that in short order in how he knifed up Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns offense in the regular season opener.
The 33-17 victory at Huntington Bank Stadium featured Overshown doing plenty of wet work, the young linebacker having entered the contest “looking forward to” Watson attempting to run and eager to show what he could do in coverage as well.
Mission accomplished on both fronts, to say the very least.
"It definitely felt great to get back out there," said Overshown. "When you have a year of straight rehab, no playing football, it's days when I just wanna run fast again. And seeing those guys fly around [last season] while standing on the sideline, wishing I was doing that. I finally got to do that today.
"It felt good. I definitely got comfortable after a couple of plays, and then we were just playing football again."
Overshown finished his NFL debut tying Eric Kendricks for a team-high nine sacks, adding two quarterback pressures and a sack, and my oh my what a sight the latter was to behold.
On fourth down with six yards needed, and trailing 27-10, Watson dropped back and saw there was no target option to his left side and that the right side of the field was wide open for a potential first-down run; but he quickly discovered it was bait. The moment he broke to his right for the scramble, Overshown shot out of a cannon to take him down for a three-yard loss and a turnover on downs.
"When you don't see [anybody] over there, and the play is over so now he's trying to make some plays with his feet," said Overshown of the play. "That's my job to make sure that doesn't happen. As soon as he broke the pocket, I knew he was mine. I saw him tuck the ball and he was gonna try to throw it, but it was too late.
"I was already on him."
Like a jaguar on an impala, the speed was as eye-popping as the technique to take his prey to the ground, and that's something he showed time and again over the course of the afternoon.
"It's everything we prepared for throughout the week," he said. "We expected them to come out and try to pound the ball on us, and we knew Deshaun Watson was one of those that, if he doesn't see what he likes, he's gonna take off running. I knew that was gonna be a part of their gameplan and we were set up perfectly for it every time. Our defense started something that we plan on building off of the rest of the year."
With such a sensational debut, the goal now moves to remaining rooted in the moment and growing from the experience, finding ways to improve to ensure his trajectory continues moving due north over the remainder of the season, and of his very promising NFL career.
"That's definitely the standard," Overshown said of his performance. "I put something on tape. Of course, we'll go in [this week] and clean up some stuff, but that's the standard. I don't expect anything less from myself throughout the whole season."
And with that, he's off to the races — hoping to help push the checkered flag to February.
