FRISCO, Texas -- In his past few meetings with the media, Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Quinnen Williams has come up with a couple of phrases for when he does not want to address a certain subject or does not know enough about one to comment.
One common refrain has been: "I've got to think about that."
Another has been: "I'm going to keep that to myself."
Recently, he said he was not playing in a dominant manner, that he needed to fine-tune some things.
"I know exactly how it's supposed to look, how it's supposed to feel when it gets there," Williams said. "Right now, I can just focus on getting better, the things I did wrong, the things I need to do better and keep going in the right direction. When that game comes, when that game hits, I can build off that with momentum."
What exactly is missing?
"I'm going to keep that to myself," he said.
Whatever is missing might be the most minute details that only he and a limited number of players in his stratosphere can understand. Williams called his 2022 season with the New York Jets his standard: He had 12 sacks, 12 tackles for loss, 28 quarterback pressures, four pass breakups, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
Through nine games this season, Williams leads the Cowboys in sacks (five), tackles for loss (14) and forced fumbles (two). He is second in quarterback hurries (29).
"If there's a better interior defensive lineman than him in the league, I haven't been around one in a long time," coach Brian Schottenheimer said. "He's just dominated the way he can change the game."
He has recorded at least two tackles for loss in each of his past four games. Only linebacker DeMarcus Ware (five) has a longer streak by a Cowboy since TFLs began being tracked in 1999. His 14 TFLs are the most by a Cowboys defensive tackle in the first nine games of a season. Only Ware had more (18 in 2011).
He had three TFLs in last week's 27-23 win against the Indianapolis Colts. His biggest came on the Colts' second-to-last drive, when Indianapolis could have run down the clock to make the Cowboys' comeback more difficult, as he stopped Jonathan Taylor for a 1-yard loss.
Earlier in the fourth quarter, Williams stopped Taylor for a 2-yard loss and forced a fumble that linebacker Shemar James recovered.
"I told him during the game, in the midst of the fire, 'I love playing by you,'" James said. "He's the guy that makes plays. He's the guy that's vocal, that runs his room, controls his room. And ultimately he's just a great leader and a great player."
It has been a little more than a calendar year since the Cowboys acquired Williams from the Jets for a 2026 second-round pick and 2027 first-rounder. In 16 games with Dallas, he has been credited with 56 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 62 quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles, two pass breakups and an interception.
"I think he's fully within that flow really since Week 3," defensive coordinator Christian Parker said recently. "And he wasn't playing bad the first two weeks, just wasn't the dynamic impact that we all know he's capable of.
"I think that he's just been comfortable with himself, No. 1, and comfortable with the people around him. And he knows just to cut it loose and go play and we'll make the corrections. I tell him all the time, 'Your mistakes belong to me,' so as long as you play fast and aggressive, we can fix everything else."
Kenny Clark, Williams' defensive tackle runningmate the past 16 games, is a three-time Pro Bowler himself and knows what it is supposed to look like.
"Just his ability to play fast," Clark said. "Actually, I was watching the film, he's just dominant. He's just dominant in there. He does a great job of finishing, whether it's him getting TFLs or getting tackles on the running backs or finishing his rushes, getting sacks and stuff like that. He does a great job of finishing. He's a complete player. It's not much that he can't do."
Off the field, Williams' voice has become one of the most important in the locker room. Before the Cowboys' win against the Philadelphia Eagles, Williams gave a pregame talk. He was not interested in divulging what he said or why he said it.
"I'm going to keep that to myself," he said.
He was voted a captain by his teammates, along with Clark, quarterback Dak Prescott and kicker Brandon Aubrey. He is on the player council that reports to Schottenheimer when issues arise. During the struggles of the Cowboys' defense, he has repeatedly mentioned there are more things he can do, taking accountability for the group.
Inside The Star, the Cowboys' practice facility, his locker is next to Prescott's.
"There's a guy who loves this game, loves his teammates," Prescott said. "I'm fortunate to be a locker over from him to have conversations throughout the week about leadership and how to get his side going versus our side going and what we need to do for the team.
"One of my favorite teammates all time and super thankful for that guy, for the way that he's wired. He plays this game the right way. He loves this game the right way, and it shows. It shows every time. Every snap that he plays, he puts it out there."
After he signed his three-year, $105 million extension in training camp, Williams spoke about his desire to make the playoffs for the first time in his career and win a Super Bowl. At 4-5, the Cowboys are still in the NFC East race, but that might be their only path to the postseason.
If the Cowboys are to truly contend, they need Williams to continue to chase his standard.
Williams said he is heading in "the right direction on what I want to do, what I want to be, who I want to be, how I want to affect the game. I got to continue to execute, continue to do the things I know I can do to help this defense turn around and help this team win football games."