NFL Capsules - NFC East and South: New Cowboys DC Ryan relishes another game ...
That game plan Ryan used 11 months ago while with Cleveland to hold New England to 14 points might pale in comparison to what he might try to do in only his fifth game with Dallas.
"Pretty much, it's the kitchen sink, to put it lightly," defensive end Kenyon Coleman, who like Ryan came to Dallas from Cleveland this season. "We were probably (in Cleveland) doing a fourth of what we're doing now. ... So I don't really think you're going to get a good beat on what we're doing by just looking at the Cleveland game."
With Pro Bowl players like DeMarcus Ware and Jay Ratliff, and leading the NFC in total defense, Coleman said the Cowboys are already doing so much more in Ryan's system than he ever remembers doing in Cleveland the past two seasons.
So just how imaginative will Ryan be this week in a personal rematch against NFL reigning MVP Brady and the Patriots?
"I'm hoping it'd be definitely fiction," said safety Abram Elam, another first-year Cowboys starter who came from Cleveland. "Don't give him anything that he can look at and know what we're in."
New England has scored at least 30 points in all 13 of their games since that 34-14 loss to Cleveland last November. The Cowboys haven't defeated New England in 15 years.
OK, so there have been only three meetings in that span — the last two with Brady. They play Sunday for the first time in four years. But the Cowboys are ready for the chance at another victory against New England, as is Ryan.
"He's excited," Elam said. "We're relishing the challenge."
Against the NFL's best offense. The Patriots average 495 total yards a game.
The last Cowboys' victory in the series was in 1996, the season after the Cowboys won their third Super Bowl title in four years. That was an unprecedented championship stretch that New England has since matched.
Ryan was the linebackers coach for the Patriots' first two championships, both when Brady was Super Bowl MVP. Ryan then was defensive coordinator for five seasons in Oakland and two in Cleveland before going to the Cowboys.
Roommates Giving Your Puppy Treats - News
The man says he'll be back for him later. It's hard to know what moves drivers to give to one panhandler and not another. It can be a well-crafted sign. Or a pained expression. But nothing draws more sympathy than a dog without a home.
He says it on the field," said fullback Darrel Young, Torain's roommate on road trips. "Coach asks him something, he'll give you the answer that you want. Nothing more. So he's kind of straight to the point. Which is a good thing.