Shifting the Overshown window: a major takeaway in Cowboys 27-20 win
The Overton Window is known as the shifting spectrum of government policies that are deemed acceptable by the masses. What seemed crazy one year ago might now seem perfectly fine today. It’s achieved by changing circumstances and/or desensitization to the public.
DeMarvion Overshown has produced his own shifting window. When the Texas product was first drafted by the Cowboys in 2023, he was player without a clear and obvious position. At 6-foot-2, 220-pounds, he played a safety-linebacker hybrid role in college and projected to play something similar in the NFL.
After missing his rookie season to a season-ending injury, Overshown has been used largely as a linebacker in 2024. Yet day by day, he’s seen more and more opportunities to showcase the special talents other linebackers don’t possess. In the Cowboys’ 27-20 win over New York on Thanksgiving, Overshown has successfully normalized an abnormal role on the Dallas defense.
As the best weapon not named “Micah Parsons,” Overshown is an elite weapon blitzing up the middle, playing in the box, dropping into coverage, and playing off the edge. He’s become the player a defensive coordinator schemes for. He’s become a player offensive coordinators scheme against.
12 weeks ago, using Overshown as a regular pass rusher seemed like an absurd thought. A player built for the secondary didn’t have much business playing on the line of scrimmage. But Mike Zimmer’s infamous double A-gap blitz provided him a perfect opportunity to showcase his skills. He did that and more this season, logging 17 pressures and five sacks prior to Week 13. He trails only Parsons in the sack department this season and added another pressure, interception and touchdown to the ledger on Thursday.
It’s no longer a crazy proposition to use Overshown as a regular pass rusher, be it from the edge or up the middle. The Overshown window has shifted where the absurd have quietly become the expected.
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