FRISCO – Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones knew something had to be done at the recent NFL trade deadline to try to mitigate his team’s early-season defensive woes. He leaned back comfortably in his Allegiant Stadium suite seat on Monday night in Las Vegas, knowing he’d done it right.

When his front office traded for New York Jets star defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, Jones expected – or at least hoped – Dallas’ Week 11 game on “Monday Night Football” to bring an immediate return on his investment.

And boy did it ever.

As Jerry put it: “Across the board, our best game of the year.”

Williams tormented a poor Las Vegas Raiders team, powering the Cowboys to their fourth win of the year with the 33-16 final.

The three-time Pro Bowler posted 1.5 sacks, seven pressures, and five QB hits (all in the first half) against Raiders QB Geno Smith. Jones was spotted grinning from ear to ear after Williams’ solo sack, which was followed up by him hitting his signature dance for the first time in silver and blue.

“It looked like a magic show,” linebacker DeMarvion Overshown said about Williams’ dominance, a show also featuring fellow D-tackles Osa Odighizuwa and Kenny Clark.

“As soon as you’d see one do something, there was another one. I feel like they kept pulling tricks out of their bag.”

Sure, this came against a 2-8 Vegas team searching for answers in every department, but what Williams and this front did on Monday was enough to have many in Cowboys Nation believing a defensive turnaround is possible if they keep it up.

How’d they do it? And with the Philadelphia Eagles coming to Big D in Week 12, how can they keep doing it? We dive into the X’s and O’s to see just how much impact Williams is having on the Cowboys.

Quinnen Williams opens up lanes for Odighizuwa, Clark, and others

Williams and Odighizuwa teamed up in the pass rush to be the league’s most disruptive Week 11 force. In fact, they were the two highest-graded defensive linemen in the league: Odighizuwa at 90.6 and Williams at 90.2, according to Pro Football Focus.

Odighizuwa (six pressures, one sack, three QB hits) and Clark (half a sack) were able to feast on one-on-one opportunities while Williams commanded double-teams. The 6-3, 303-pound ‘Q’ was doubled on more than half of his reps against Las Vegas.

Others got involved, too, thanks to the gravitas of the Cowboys’ new star.

Rookie edge Donovan Ezeiruaku totaled three tackles (two for loss), and free-agent pick-up James Houston added a QB hit and a sack (Dallas had four in total) off the edge.

The scary thought? This all came in a relatively small sample size as the newcomer Williams spent less than two total weeks with the franchise before suiting up.

Oh, and he only played in 55 percent of the snaps.

As he gets comfortable with his teammates, Dallas coaches believe you can expect to see a lot more of Williams on the inside of the line and in the opposing backfield.

Three-headed monster like never before

On Monday, head coach Brian Schottenheimer and coordinator Matt Eberflus had Williams, Clark, and Odighizuwa on the field at the same time, pushing Osa to the outside as he’s the more nimble of the bunch.

Or might Williams potentially bring enough speed to play on the corner? Against the Raiders, he showed off some surprising horsepower.

According to Next Gen Stats, Williams’ get-off time rivaled Las Vegas’ best player, All-Pro defensive end MaxxCrosby. That was what allowed Williams to bull-rush the Raiders’ line and knock them on their heels when he was being matched up one-on-one.

This can be a fun package to play with moving forward – with either Odighizuwa or Williams lining up in the B or C gap – as Dallas continues to get a lot out of the speedy Ezeiruaku on the edge and Overshown gets more comfortable rushing the passer from anywhere on the second level.

For the first time in forever, Dallas’ front can attack teams with elite power and speed.

Williams buys into the culture on day 1

Quinnen Williams made an impact on this game, but he’s already made just as much impact on this locker room, which was emotionally charged with the memory of fallen teammate Marshawn Kneeland in mind.

“Definitely setting the tone in a lot of ways: the way he was rushing, the way he was getting up the field, attacking,” Odighizuwa said about Williams postgame. “It’s great to have a guy like that on the field.”

“I’ve never played with a front like this,” Clark added. “It’s going to make all of us better. The front is nasty. I’m loving it.”

Williams knows the difficult position he is entering, now as the face of a struggling defense still being shaded by the absence of Micah Parsons on the edge. The big man is handling this opportunity with humility and motivation.

“I don’t think one guy can change anything,” he said modestly. “I think the team itself, the guys around you, all 11 on the field, the coaching staff, makes the difference. One man don’t do nothing. It’s not golf. It’s not tennis. Everybody on this team has to do a job, and everybody in this organization has to do a job to the best of our abilities to win football games.”

“I’m playing with some great individuals: Kenny Clark, Osa, you got Eze, you got (Jadeveon Clowney) over there. The guys around me are playing unbelievable. It helps me; all I needed to do is just do my job.”

Williams is now turning his attention to the 8-2 Eagles, with a respect for their star player paired with a confidence in what 4-5-1 Dallas can accomplish.

“He’s an amazing running back, man,” Williams said of Saquon Barkley. “(But) the coaches got a great game plan, just follow the game plan and do my job the best of my ability, and I know everybody on the defense, if we do our job the best of our ability, it’ll be a good turnout.”

Indeed, if Williams continues performing the “magic,’’ Jerry Jones and the rest of the D-line will keep on grinning as they’re “Winnin’ with Quinnen.’’