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In the postgame locker room after the Dallas Cowboys’ season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles, Dak Prescott didn’t downplay the ejection of Jalen Carter.

The Eagles’ Pro Bowl defensive tackle had been thrown out of the game before taking a snap after he spit on Prescott. Prescott didn’t take a sack in the four-point loss that followed.

“Honestly, it was a hell of a player that a lot of our protection [plan] was to go towards him,” Prescott told Yahoo Sports from his locker. “When the ref was like, ‘Oh, he’s out of here, I was like, ‘oh, s***.’

“The whole game of protections changed.”

Eleven weeks later, the Cowboys host the Eagles with the expectation that a spit-free Carter will be ready and eager to impact Dallas. The Cowboys will also field a defensive tackle who did not play in the opener, after acquiring three-time Pro Bowler Quinnen Williams at the trade deadline earlier this month.

In an era of football that celebrates and handsomely compensates edge rushers, each team will front a defensive tackle whom opponents know is capable of wrecking a game plan.

Williams recorded 1.5 sacks and five quarterback hits in his Cowboys debut last Monday night. Carter has batted four passes in the Eagles’ last two games, per Pro Football Focus data, buoyed by the trade deadline addition of edge rusher Jaelan Phillips.

Edges can and will still threaten. But Sunday’s NFC East contest will also be a showcase of defensive tackles.

“We always talk about protecting the A and B gaps,” Prescott told reporters this week of interior pressure. “As a quarterback, that’s what you’re going to feel a lot more, a lot quicker than those edge pieces. And not only that but those edge pieces you feel like you can get up and you can get out or you can escape over the top.

“Probably the easiest or best way to affect the quarterback is through the middle.”

How Quinnen Williams and Jalen Carter change game for opponents

During the Cowboys’ 33-16 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday, a team microphone caught wind of a conversation between Williams and second-round Cowboys rookie edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku.

“You should have rushed on the play before,” Williams told Ezeiruaku. “Make the inside move and go, you had him.

“You got the speed to chase him down.”

Williams’ leadership was evident in his words and actions during his first game wearing the Cowboys star. There was a sense that Williams — who doesn’t just pass rush but also leads defensive tackles with a 47% run stop win rate, per ESPN metrics — would not just impact the game directly. He’d elevate those around him.

And adding Williams alongside Kenny Clark, the interior lineman Dallas acquired from the Green Bay Packers in an August trade of Micah Parsons?

“The interior offensive line, they’re going to have their hands full,” an AFC assistant coach told Yahoo Sports of the Cowboys’ Clark-Williams pairing. “It’s very rare that you have two good guards. Most of the time, you’re helping one or the other. Well, OK — good luck.”

Carter’s dominance similarly raises the bar in Philadelphia. Philadelphia need not blitz as much with the ability to get pressure from a four-person defensive front, Prescott told reporters this week of his film study. The Eagles’ secondary knows that their front will pressure opposing quarterbacks, defensive backs sitting on routes and reaching for takeaway attempts more confidently as a result.

“JC, bro, we all know the type of player he’s capable and he could be and he is,” Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Davis said of Carter. “When he comes out here, he plays with such ferocious tenacity and he’s so — it’s just like a different mode he goes to when it comes to game time.

“As a D-line unit … we all feed off each other.”

In a Sunday Night Football win last week, the Eagles defense fed off each other to the tune of Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff’s worst completion percentage in 144 career games.” Philadelphia pressured Goff on 15 of 39 dropbacks.

Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s reunion with Phillips has influenced that, Phillips collecting one sack, 11 tackles, four quarterback hits and a fumble recovery in his first two Eagles games.

And the Cowboys? They pressured Raiders quarterback Geno Smith on 40.8% of dropbacks Monday, per TruMediaSports. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts will threaten with a mobility that can neutralize some of that rush. But as Prescott said, escaping a rush from an edge rusher is easier than evading an interior pursuit.

“When the pressure’s coming right there in your lap,” Prescott said this week, “it’s very, very tough to figure out how to get out of that and see downfield.”

Cowboys, Eagles records may not reflect their chances to handle disruptive defensive tackles

No one should question whether the 8-2 Eagles are a more dangerous team this year than the 4-5-1 Cowboys.

And yet, it’s fair to ask: Which offense is better equipped to handle a frenetic defensive front?

The Cowboys rank second in scoring (29.6 points) and third in total production, at 378.7 yards per game. Prescott slots sixth with 2,587 passing yards and eighth with a 102.5 passer rating.

Hurts’ 107.0 passer rating bests that of Prescott, at fifth. But the Eagles have struggled offensively even as they’ve found ways to win. Sixteen teams have scored more points than their 23.4, and 24 have covered more ground than their 300.1 yards per game. As is customary in Philadelphia, tensions have boiled and reports have surfaced about frustration, receiver A.J. Brown not hiding his dissatisfaction.

Add in a Lisfranc injury sidelining right tackle Lane Johnson, and the Eagles’ strengths further come into question. Philadelphia has won 65.8% (110-57-1) of games Johnson has started since drafting him in 2013. They’ve won just 39.5% (15-23) without him.

In comes Philadelphia’s defense to carry the team with the eighth-best scoring mark, allowing just 20.1 points per game. Against the Packers and Lions since Phillips’ acquisition, the Eagles have allowed seven and then nine points.

The Cowboys, in comparison, rank second-worst allowing 29.3 points per game and third-worst allowing 381.3 yards. Their performance against the Raiders raised hope that the acquisition of Williams, along with the return of several injured players, will stabilize the unit that’s still adjusting to its first year under defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus. 

But also, the Raiders were already struggling and fronting a less-than-full-strength line.

“It’s not the best benchmark, but still it was dominant,” the AFC assistant said of the Cowboys’ defensive performance in Las Vegas. “They did what they were supposed to do.”

  The Eagles’ meanwhile? All parties expect Carter to do what he’s supposed to do, in disrupting the pocket and avoiding any further spitting days after the league suspended Cincinnati Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase a game this week for the same act.

What will Prescott say to Carter when he sees him 11 weeks after the incident?

Prescott smiled when asked by reporters on Thursday.

“Depends on what he says first, but probably something friendly,” Prescott said. “Get on his good side.”