Texas NFL Capsules: NT Ratliff has no plan to be weak link for Cowboys

IRVING — Jay Ratliff was still a backup for the Dallas Cowboys, a defensive end and former seventh-round draft pick with only a handful of tackles when coach Wade Phillips arrived.

Yet nearly three years ago, Phillips saw something much more in Ratliff, who has since moved to nose tackle and become a Pro Bowl player.

"Jerry (Jones, the Cowboys owner) can tell you when I got here, after a little while, I said, our best player is a backup player," Phillips said. "I mean, he's been impressive since I got here. ... He was going to play there whether the other guy got hurt or not."

After Jason Ferguson tore his right biceps in the 2007 season opener, in Phillips' debut as the Cowboys coach, Ratliff took over in the middle of the defensive front. He has started every game since, and is having another standout season after making the Pro Bowl last year.

Ratliff even earned a new level of respect from Phillips during a 20-16 victory in Philadelphia on Sunday night that gave the Cowboys (6-2) sole possession of the NFC East lead.

"At halftime, we came in and he says, 'My fault on the running game.' I said, 'No, it isn't your fault.' He jumps back at me and said 'It's my fault,'" said Phillips, who finally conceded and listened as Ratliff said he would correct things. "Accountability is important, and I think everybody talks about it, but doing it is another thing."

Philadelphia gave up 70 rushing yards by halftime but only 19 after that.

The soft-spoken Ratliff, a fifth-year player from Auburn whose demeanor is vastly different from the all-out way he performs on the field, doesn't know why anybody would make a big deal about him being accountable for his mistakes.

"I know my responsibilities and I got out of line on two plays. It didn't 'hurt us' hurt us, but it was way more than we as a defense want to give up," Ratliff said Wednesday. "It was my fault. ... If I do wrong, I'm going to stand up and say I did wrong."

Ratliff finished the Philadelphia game with eight tackles and two sacks. He has 42 tackles and four sacks this season.

"Man, he's a beast," linebacker Bradie James said. "I don't know if there is a defensive tackle in the league who is as quick as he is and as fast as he is and as relentless as he is. He's one of the biggest assets on our defense."

Phillips, who is also the team's defensive coordinator, talks about how Ratliff's attitude and relentless play is "a great example" for other players to try to emulate.

"A lot of guys don't know that they're not playing like Ratliff," Phillips said. "They think they're playing hard."

Ratliff's response to the compliments? He said he's just playing the game the way it's supposed to be played.

"I don't want to be the weak link on the team or anything like that. It's as simple as that. That's why I want to do well, I want to win games and want to contribute to the team," he said. "It goes back to the basic fundamentals of the game, wherever the ball is, you need to be there."

But try telling Ratliff it appears that he is stepping up in a leadership role, and he is quick to divert the line of conversation — "y'all throw that word around so loosely," he said.

"Really, that's enough about that."

Gurode, Hamlin held out of Cowboys practice

IRVING — Center Andre Gurode and safety Ken Hamlin were held out of the Dallas Cowboys' practice Wednesday.

Coach Wade Phillips says it would have been unlikely that Gurode (ankle sprain) and Hamlin (groin strain) could have played if it had been a game day. But he isn't ruling them out of Sunday's game at Green Bay.

Gurode and Hamlin both were injured in the 20-16 victory at Philadelphia last Sunday night. Phillips says both returned to play in the game after being hurt.

And games don't get much worse than the Packers' emotionally charged Nov. 1 loss to Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings. But Jennings insists the fallout from a disappointing loss to a division rival didn't figure into the Packers' head-scratching loss to Tampa Bay a week later.

"You've got to go on and move forward, go on to the next game," Jennings said. "If you let a loss like that linger, it will affect you into the next week. I don't think that's what happened. We just went down there and didn't get the job done, especially in that fourth quarter."

So losing to a winless Tampa team starting a rookie quarterback wasn't evidence of a post-Favreageddon hangover?

"No," defensive lineman Cullen Jenkins said. "I don't think it was a hangover effect from that. We moved past that. Tampa Bay, we went down there, they're a totally different team. They were motivated, they came at us, put together a complete game and we didn't close it out when we had the chances to."

While Packers players deny that the Vikings loss put a long-term dent in their confidence, there's no denying that the team is at a crossroads. Hand the streaking Dallas Cowboys their first loss in more than a month Sunday and they're back on track for the playoffs.

Lose Sunday's game, and the Packers' season might be lost too.

"This is a time where we have to make sure we come together," Jennings said. "Because if we don't do that, then the season will dwindle away. We've worked too hard. We can't afford to let a few losses shatter our season."

Barely clinging to playoff contention wasn't where the Packers expected to be at the season's halfway point, but it's reality. They're 4-4 and would need an epic collapse by Favre and the one-loss Vikings to have a shot at the NFC North title.

Losing at Tampa certainly wasn't a good first step toward a wild-card berth.

The Packers didn't seem to have a problem shaking off their first loss to the Vikings, a 30-23 loss at the Metrodome on Oct. 5. Green Bay steamrolled its next two opponents — the lowly Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns — by a combined score of 57-3.

So after another discouraging loss to the Vikings, this time in front of a charged-up crowd at Lambeau Field, it stood to reason that the Packers would take their frustrations out on an 0-7 Buccaneers team starting rookie quarterback Josh Freeman.

Instead, they blew a fourth-quarter lead and went home with a loss.

"Yeah, of course we expected to win that game," nose tackle Ryan Pickett said. "So it's definitely a shock we lost. But that's it. That's all we can do about it."

Defensive coordinator Dom Capers said he didn't think the Vikings loss disrupted the way players practiced and prepared last week.

"I didn't think so," Capers said. "I thought we came out and we started fast. We came out and we're three and out, and we got off the field. I liked the way we played in the first half. I thought we let them off the hook a little bit. ... We just didn't finish it off down the stretch."

So why weren't they able to take out their frustrations on a lesser opponent, like they did on the Lions and Browns last month?

"I have no idea what the difference was," Pickett said. "We didn't put them away. And we've got to have a mentality to put teams like the Bucs away. We can't let them hang around."

To get back in the playoff picture, the Packers will have to find a way to keep quarterback Aaron Rodgers upright, get pressure on opposing quarterbacks and fix their latest recurring problem, ill-timed mistakes on special teams.

Jennings says it can be done.

"I don't think (our) confidence is shaken at all," Jennings said. "We know what type of team we're capable of and being. But right now, we're a 4-4 ballclub."

-- Chris Jenkins

Kampman: Late concussion ID not team's fault

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Linebacker Aaron Kampman does not blame the Green Bay Packers' coaches and medical staff for him playing most of Sunday's game with a head injury.

Chiefs put OL Mike Goff on IR, sign Cowboys LB Rogers

That means the Chiefs (1-7) and their struggling ground game will be without their starting right guard and their most accomplished running back, Larry Johnson, against Oakland on Sunday.

Johnson, just 75 yards away from breaking the team rushing record, was released on Monday after being suspended for making inappropriate posts on his Twitter account.

Averaging fewer than 97 yards, the Chiefs' rushing game will depend now on Jamaal Charles and Kolby Smith. Both offer more speed and a better chance of breaking a long play than Johnson, a two-time Pro Bowler who was averaging only 2.7 yards per carry this year behind spotty blocking.

Smith saw his first action last week in a year and had 17 yards on four carries. The Chiefs were being careful since he was coming off knee surgery.

Smith might even start against the Raiders.

"He's worked real hard. I wouldn't put it past him," said coach Todd Haley. "I'm still trying to keep it within reason and not have the expectations too high and understand really what the situation is. But I would say Kolby Smith's the type of guy who could surprise. I wouldn't say its out of reason."

Goff, a 12-year veteran, had started seven games for the Chiefs (1-7) before going down with a shoulder injury. He will probably be replaced by Andy Alleman, a three-year veteran who was acquired in a trade in August from Miami. Another possibility is Ikechuku Ndukwe, who has been backing up right tackle Ryan O'Callaghan.

"Mike obviously was an important piece to us that we signed in the offseason to help a lot of these young guys figure out how to do it," said Haley. "It's disappointing that his season is over. But injuries are a part of this game."

Alleman stepped in when Goff was injured last week against Jacksonville.

"He missed a couple of plays there but he fought back and finished the game strong and did some good things," Haley said. "We'll have to carry on. Injuries are a part of the game. Guys have to step in and get the job done."

The Chiefs also signed linebacker Justin Rogers on Wednesday. He appeared in 31 games the past two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys and made three tackles.

-- Doug Tucker