11 + 13 = Problems for opposing offenses

FRISCO, Texas – When you add up 11 and 13, most people get 24. Through 12 games the season, the Cowboys’ answer to that equation has been 112 tackles, 11.5 sacks, 14 tackles for loss and a pick-six.

The pairing of Micah Parsons and DeMarvion Overshown has been dynamite for the Dallas defense in their first season together, and it doesn’t look like they’re slowing down any time soon.

“With number 11 on the field, it’s going to open up for a lot of people,” Overshown said. “If you turn on the tape, the majority of the time you’ve got two or three people holding on to him, so If you’ve got two or three people holding on to him, that’s just going to open up one on ones for me.”

And when those openings come to fruition for Overshown, he’s confident in his ability to come out on the winning end of the battle.

“If you one on one block me, I’m looking at that as something I should win every time.” Overshown said.

And he is winning them. When the Giants tried to send a running back to block Overshown one-on-one on Thanksgiving, it led to his first career pick-six on a highlight play that changed the game for the Cowboys.

For most, the play would be a career-defining highlight. While it’s still near the top, Overshown has been making those kinds of plays since his high school days at Arp.

“If I can pick one, that is definitely top two,” Overshown said of the pick-six. “I feel like the play that really just got my college recruiting trail going, I think it was the first highlight of my junior year high school tape… but this was definitely one of my best plays ever.”

Following Dallas’ win over the Giants, Parsons showered his counterpart in compliments and knew that it was only a matter of time before the world realized what Overshown could bring to the table for the Cowboys defense.

“I told y’all from the beginning he was going to be a dude,” Parsons said after the game. “From his rookie year before the injury I said: ‘That will be a Pro-Bowl, All-Pro type player.'”

Parsons added that Overshown reminded him a bit of himself, and while he’s “not quite 11,” he’s still an elite talent with a unique mix of traits and abilities that makes everyone around him better.

“I think he has his own creative identity, and that’s why he’s not trying to be like me, he’s his own special specimen,” Parsons said. “He’s going to be felt every play, he’s a wildcat on the field, man I love playing next to him.”

With the two continuing to wreak havoc on the field together, Overshown knows that eventually, some of the attention that Parsons attracts will have to be sent his way too.

“It’s going to be one of these games where they’re going to have to put some respect on 13 and they’re just not going to be able to triple team 11 the whole game.” Overshown said.

And regardless of when that happens, opposing offense still won’t be able to subract 11 nor 13 from the equation.

“[Parsons] said it right, he said I’m not quite 11 but I’m 13,” Overshown said. “And that’s all we need. We don’t need two number 11s, we’ve got an 11 and a 13.”