Could we all please stop telling Rex Ryan how to live his life? I mean, I think we should stop telling everybody how to live their lives, but we can start with Rex. Poor guy has coached nine games in the NFL and has already been called everything from a breath of fresh air to a blowhard to a crybaby. Yeah, in case you haven't heard the last thing on the Jets' head coach is that he cried during a team meeting Monday morning. The New York Post broke the story, and it became a big deal in New York. Ryan, to his credit, brought of box of tissues to his Wednesday news conference, joked that he'd just scored a sponsorship deal with Kleenex and said, "I'm man enough to be me."
"I'll be true to myself," Ryan said. "I'm always going to be, and I said that from day one. If I don't fit the stereotype of coach-speak or anything else, so be it. I'm always going to be myself."
Can I say I hope Ryan is reading this when I type, "Thank goodness?"
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Nobody had to tell Charles Woodson the Packers needed this game. The team didn't have to call any meetings or make any fiery pregame speeches about protecting houses and separating backs from walls. When they showed up for work Sunday morning, the Packers were 4-4 and reeling from an inexplicable loss to the Buccaneers the week before. The mission couldn't have been clearer if it had been tattooed on the insides of their eyelids.
"I don't think anything needed to be said, " Woodson said when it was all over. "But me, I believe in self-motivation."
So Woodson motivated himself into a frothing frenzy and completely took over Sunday's game. He blanketed Dallas tight end Jason Witten. He forced fumbles, made a critical interception and basically made sure he was everywhere he needed to be -- even if that meant being everywhere at once. If there's one player who's the reason the Packers are 5-4 instead of 4-5, it's their still-hungry 33-year-old cornerback.
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- You could smell this game as far away as Madison, and the part of it that stunk the worst was the Dallas Cowboys offense. On an afternoon in which everybody -- the officials, the head coaches, the offensive lines...everybody -- seemed to be conspiring to set the game of football back 40 years, it was the Cowboys who came up the smallest, committing 10 penalties and converting just 3 of 12 third downs in a 17-7 loss to the Packers at Lambeau Field.
"This was an impressive win for Green Bay," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "But it was unimpressive the way we didn't execute, especially early, when we still had a chance to get the game going the way we wanted it to go."
But the most disappointing part for the Cowboys was that, by losing this game, they blew a very real chance to get the season going the way they wanted it to go.
PHILADELPHIA -- Brian Westbrook did not practice with the Eagles on Wednesday, nor did he talk about why. His coach, Andy Reid, said Westbrook would practice Thursday and that the reason he was held out Wednesday was his ankle, and not the concussion he suffered in the team's Oct. 26 victory over the Redskins. But if you buy that, I've got a South Philly bridge to sell you, too.
The ankle is a red herring. Westbrook's ankle is a chronic problem, for which he's had surgery, and his ankle probably hurts every day. They can put him on the injury report with an ankle problem anytime they want, and nobody's going to bat an eye. This thing with Westbrook is a case of a player, concerned about his own personal future, taking it slow amid a culture that's only starting to embrace the danger and seriousness of concussions.
In case you hadn't noticed, sports these days are all about Goliath. In 2009, the Steelers, Lakers, North Carolina Tar Heels and now the Yankees have all won titles in their respective sports. Cinderella is yesterday's news. The teams that win these days are the teams that always win, and if you think that's boring, well, tough. You can kiss one of Derek Jeter's five World Series rings.
So with that in mind, we need to be really careful about overlooking the Dallas Cowboys.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. All you ever hear about the Cowboys is what's wrong with them. Terrell Owens was a pain. Roy Williams is a loudmouth, too, and isn't good enough to replace T.O. Tony Romo's too concerned with his golf game and his high-wattage love life to ever attain his potential. The new stadium is ridiculous...
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- This was to have been the Giants' get-right game. Sure, New Orleans beat them up last week, but the Saints are an undefeated team that was coming off a bye week and playing at home. The Giants spent the week shrugging off that loss and promising to be better this week at home against the Cardinals. The defense promised more blitzing and less trepidation. The offense promised to be sharper. To a man, the Giants were certain they'd come up with a big win Sunday night over the reigning NFC champs...and then they lost.
"For whatever reason, we've had two weeks in a row now where one area has not performed very well," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "So, back to the drawing board."
And back, whether they like it or not, into a three-team NFC East tussle where there's no clear favorite -- not even them.
DENVER -- Wherever Brandon Marshall had been hiding throughout much of the Denver Broncos' 17-10 victory over the overhyped Dallas Cowboys at Invesco Field on Sunday, quarterback Kyle Orton was able to find him at the most opportune time.
With just under two minutes remaining and the score tied 10-10, Orton connected with Marshall along the right sideline on a stunning 51-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass with 1:46 remaining, a play that may help doubters understand how the once-overlooked Broncos are now among the NFL's elite teams at 4-0.
"Yes! Yes!" Marshall screamed as kicker Matt Prater's PAT sailed through to give the Broncos a 17-10 advantage that they would preserve when cornerback Champ Bailey smacked away a potential game-tying Tony Romo touchdown pass to Sam Hurd on 4th down at the Denver 2-yard line in the closing seconds.
NEW YORK -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced his final Michael Vick decision to a group of about 20 reporters in a conference room at the league offices in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon. FanHouse attended the session, which lasted about an hour and a half and covered a wide range of topics that began with Vick and also touched on the Cowboys' video board, the blackout/ticket-sales issues in Jacksonville, the upcoming labor negotiations and several other topics.
But the news of the day was Vick, and Goodell's explanation of his reasoning for reinstating Vick effective Week 3 was interesting. The commissioner said, as he has said before, that he's "looking for a success story" with Vick, and that the goal is to make sure the troubled QB becomes a good and productive member of society off the field moving forward. Keeping Vick out for the first two games of the regular season seemed less like a punitive measure on Goodell's part, rather than one designed to take into account the number of different things Vick has going on in his life right now.
It's July, the slowest month of the year for the NFL, and it's driving you nuts. You need a fix. A hit. Anything NFL to pull you through the dog days. FanHouse is here to help with an in-depth look at each division that should have you plenty prepared for training camp. We're calling it the Summer Scramble, and today we take a look at some burning questions in the NFC East. As a bonus, we also predict the order of finish (though we admit it's ridiculously early).
Based on what Jones told Dallas reporters, the team is in no rush to make the actual move. Ellis will not be attending OTAs, and Jones said he's given Ellis and his agent permission to try and arrange a trade with another team if they can. The Cowboys would rather trade Ellis than release him and have to pay the $1.5 million guaranteed portion of his salary, but his $5.6 million salary and his salary cap number of $6.25 million are likely to make a trade difficult.
Could we all please stop telling Rex Ryan how to live his life? I mean, I think we should stop telling everybody how to live their lives, but we can start with Rex. Poor guy has coached nine games in the NFL and has already been called everything from a breath of fresh air to a blowhard to a crybaby. Yeah, in case you haven't heard the last thing on the Jets' head coach is that he cried during a team meeting Monday morning. The New York Post broke the story, and it became a big deal in New York. Ryan, to his credit, brought of box of tissues to his Wednesday news conference, joked that he'd just scored a sponsorship deal with Kleenex and said, "I'm man enough to be me."
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Nobody had to tell 
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- You could smell this game as far away as Madison, and the part of it that stunk the worst was the 
PHILADELPHIA -- 
In case you hadn't noticed, sports these days are all about Goliath. In 2009, the 
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- This was to have been the Giants' get-right game. Sure, New Orleans beat them up last week, but the Saints are an undefeated team that was coming off a bye week and playing at home. The Giants spent the week shrugging off that loss and promising to be better this week at home against the Cardinals. The defense promised more blitzing and less trepidation. The offense promised to be sharper. To a man, the Giants were certain they'd come up with a big win Sunday night over the reigning NFC champs...and then they lost.
DENVER -- Wherever 
NEW YORK -- 
Cowboys owner 
