There was already plenty being asked of Jaishawn Barham before the ball was even kicked off against the Washington Commanders. With DeMarvion Overshown sidelined by a hamstring injury, the Dallas Cowboys handed their rookie linebacker the green dot and asked him to become the voice of Christian Parker’s defense. That meant receiving the calls from the sideline, relaying them to the rest of the unit, setting the front and making sure everyone was lined up correctly.
That is a sizeable responsibility for any linebacker. Barham was doing it in just the second regular-season game of his NFL career. Brian Schottenheimer had backed the rookie during the week, saying Barham had shown “great command” of the defense. He had also handled similar responsibilities during his college career, but doing it on an NFL field against Jayden Daniels and a divisional opponent was an entirely different test. For the most part, Barham passed it.
The important thing when judging his performance with the green dot is separating Dallas’ overall defensive execution from Barham’s ability to run the unit. Washington still found success at different points, particularly with Daniels using his legs, but the Cowboys looked much more organized than they did against the Giants in Week 1. There were fewer moments where defenders appeared completely lost before the snap or where obvious communication breakdowns resulted in easy plays.
There was an early example when Barham made a strong open-field tackle on third-and-five, stopping Washington three yards short of the first-down marker. It was a small play compared with what came later, but it showed the rookie was processing what he was seeing and then reacting without hesitation. Then came his biggest contribution of the afternoon.
Barham briefly left the game and went into the injury tent.
On his very first snap back on the field, he delivered one of the biggest defensive plays of the game. He arrived with force and knocked the football loose, with Dee Winters recovering at the Washington 13-yard line.
Dallas made Washington pay. Two plays later, Dak Prescott found Jake Ferguson over the middle for a 12-yard touchdown, turning Barham’s takeaway directly into points and extending the Cowboys’ advantage.
Perhaps just as encouraging was everything surrounding the play. The rookie had already dealt with the responsibility of calling the defense, briefly leaving through injury and, in one of the more comical moments of the afternoon, even puking on the field.
It was certainly one way of introducing yourself to life as an NFL starting middle linebacker. Yet he kept going. He finished with seven tackles and one forced fumble, but his performance was about considerably more than the box score.
There will be mistakes to correct. There will be tougher communication tests as offenses use different motion, tempo and personnel changes specifically to challenge the young linebacker. Wearing the green dot successfully for one afternoon does not make him a finished product.
What it does provide is evidence that Dallas may have something important developing. Seven tackles, a game-changing forced fumble, an injury return, one unfortunate encounter with his own stomach and responsibility for running the defense.
For a player appearing in just his second NFL game, that is quite an afternoon, and the huge 37-20 victory in AT&T Stadium shows something went right in Week 2 with Barham steering the defense.
