Dallas Cowboys stud Antwaun Woods says getting busted with a ton of weed actually HELPED him dominate against the Rams ... saying the arrest "absolutely" motivated him.
Woods was a BEAST on the defensive line in the Cowboys' 44-21 rout over L.A. on Sunday ... and on Wednesday, Woods claimed getting arrested earlier this month contributed to that.
"I just wanted to get all the negativity out of the way and just put something positive on my life," Woods told reporters.
As we previously reported, Woods was pulled over in Frisco, Texas on Dec. 3 after cops say he was doing 77 MPH in a 60 zone.
During the stop, cops say they smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from Woods' car ... and when they searched it, they found a lot of weed.
According to the police report, Woods had 2 glass mason jars and a small gold cylinder container full of weed, along with several pieces of drug paraphernalia.
In video of the arrest obtained by TMZ Sports, you can see the cop straight-up tell the 26-year-old, "Listen, you've got too much marijuana, okay?"
The stop happened just two days before the Cowboys' loss to the Bears, but Woods didn't play in the game because of a previous knee injury.
But, in his first game back against Jared Goff and Todd Gurley over the weekend, he logged 5 tackles -- a HUGE figure for a nose tackle -- and was grateful to still have the opportunity to play after the arrest.
"I'm a kid from the ghetto," Woods said. "Football has been the outlet my whole life. I've got almost two degrees from football. So, yeah."