Back On the Horse Cowboys Put Talk, 0-2 Start behind Them

IRVING, Texas - Talk is cheap. But it may be subject to the same rules of supply and demand as everything else.
After the frustration of a 0-2 start left some Cowboys voicing complaints and nfl jerseys
airing them in a players-only meeting on Monday, the team is now closing ranks. Just as Coach Wade Phillips didn't want to talk about his message to the team since Sunday's 27-20 loss to Chicago, no players would share what was discussed in their meeting.
Speaking after the game, cornerback Terence Newman said he thought the Cowboys lacked intensity in practice, and didn't have identity. His right-side counterpart Mike Jenkins claimed the team had underestimated the Bears. After safety Gerald Sensabaugh slammed the hype and circus-like atmosphere surrounding the organization on Monday, Phillips said it was natural to be vocally upset during a losing streak.
Asked whether he believes players airing their grievances to one another can be productive, Phillips said they can some of the time. Following the game, Marcus Spears said words would do the team no good. On Wednesday, just before the first practice in preparation for Sunday's game at Houston, the defensive end was more hopeful.
"After that game, I was probably in a place where I didn't want to hear much," Spears said. "Talking has its advantages and disadvantages. If you're only talking and not doing anything with the action, it's irrelevant. I have a lot of family meetings at my house. That usually works. But if the talk doesn't work, you whip your kids. That's what I do."
No one is capable of bending 300-pound men over their knee for a spanking, so the admonishment must come from within.
"If you're a professional you're going to give it to yourself," Spears said. "I think we've already been doing that as players. I think whatever facet that you can get better in and whatever you need to do to be productive and start winning, that's the whipping you should be giving yourself."
Instead of talking about their problems and what's gone wrong in two upset losses, players on Wednesday were stressing only the importance of climbing out of the hole, and how crucial it is to beat the 2-0 Texans.
"You don't make it bigger than what it is," linebacker Keith Brooking Bears jersey
said. "And obviously you dang sure don't make it smaller than what it is. It's a big game because it's the next game, and our focus is getting to 1-2. If we get to 1-2 our bye week will be ahead of us and we can regroup and get ready for game four. In this time it's not a crisis. I think there's a sense of urgency."
In a reverse of what Phillips saw as a counterproductive public discussion of team business, veterans like Brooking were mum about the team meeting.
It's not known whether Newman himself called the meeting. The cornerback hasn't spoken to the media since shortly after Sunday's game.
At least some defensive players were notified of the closed-door session by linebacker Brady James, one of seven veterans elected as a team captain, along with Brooking and Demarks Ware on the defensive side of the ball, quarterback Tony Room, tight end Jason Written and running back Marion Barber offensively, and wide receiver Sam Hard for the special teams.

Whatever was said, the Cowboys were keeping it to themselves.
"You want to ask me about the Texans?" Brooking said in response to a question about the meeting. "I'll tell you what, when I walked through those doors today, that's what I was focused on. I don't want to talk about a players meeting, I don't want to talk about last week. I want to talk about right now, so let's talk about the Texans."
For a team that, according to some of its own members, went into the season overconfident, two losses to start the schedule have been quite an eye-opener. Now the Cowboys know they can't afford to look forward or backward.
That's been Phillips' message, and it's quite likely the same idea came up in the players' meeting, the success of which may not be known for some time.
"I hope they accomplished a lot," Phillips said. "I don't know. I feel like they talked about the same things I talked about with the team, on a player-to-player basis, and I think a lot of it is practice, which we talked about, more focus in practice. The only way to get better is to work at it. Practice is not the cure-all for Bills jersey
playing well, but you've got a better chance if you practice better."
According to the coach, the Cowboys' first day back together was productive.
"I thought we practiced well," Phillips said. "I think our players thought that, and that's part of it too."