The Dallas Cowboys informed defensive coordinator Rob Ryan on Tuesday he would not be returning to run the team’s defense in 2013-14.
“I want to express my appreciation to Rob for all of his efforts and contributions to the Cowboys over the past two years,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said in a statement. “At this time, the decision has been made to move forward in a different direction philosophically on defense. I have an immense amount of respect for Rob as a person and as a football coach and I wish him and his family the very best.”
Ryan’s defense finished 19th overall, 17th against the run and 21st against the pass.
His defense missed five defensive starters due to injuries and two more key backups.
“I inherited a team that was 31st in the league in defense and made them better,” Ryan told ESPNDallas.com’s Tim MacMahon. “I (expletive) made them a hell of a lot better. I’ll be out of work for like five minutes.”
“I have no sour grapes,’’ Ryan said. “I know I did a hell of a job,” he said. Ryan had one year remaining on a three-year contract.
Several of Brent’s teammates urged him to attend the Steelers game and coach Jason Garrett, who spoke to the player the day before the game, didn’t even know about it until pregame warm ups.
“I actually talked to Josh on Saturday and visited with him over the phone for a little while, just checked in with him to see how he was doing, if he needed anything from us,” Garrett said. “Again, he was working through a lot of different things in his life, and just to let him know we support him. Our players have been over to his house, and they’ve been in contact with him and very close to him. So, you know, I didn’t actually know he was going to be at the game. But again, we’re trying to handle it day by day and work our way through it. We’ll have some more discussions about that going forward.”
Garrett said the Cowboys’ players are following the wishes of Jerry Brown’s mother, Stacey Jackson.
Brown, a Cowboys practice squad player, was killed in a one-car accident involving Brent the day before a game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
At the memorial service for her son, Jackson told the players to care for Brent and keep him involved with the team as much as they can. The organization has expressed support for Brent since the accident, while making it known that it does not condone drunken driving.
Garrett said Brent left in the third quarter of the Cowboys-Steelers game because he didn’t want to be a distraction. The Cowboys were criticized during the broadcast of the game for allowing Brent on the sidelines.
“It becomes a real sensitive topic to a lot of people when you’re in a public place like the game,” Garrett said. “There were no bad intentions other than to support Josh as part of our football team. This is a game and you need to be here. That’s what our players wanted to convey to him and they really encouraged him to come to the game. I thought Josh handled it beautifully the way that he came and then when he felt like there were some issues he felt the right thing to do was to leave. But we’re going to support him in every way that we can. We also will be sensitive to this kind of issue.”
Garrett said the Cowboys will evaluate what the future may hold for Brent in terms of attending Sunday’s game against New Orleans and any future games.
Before the game, Brent watched his teammates warm up and in the locker room he spoke to several players offering encouragement. Brent stood behind the players during the national anthem with Brown’s jersey over his shoulder.
“Our team and our players wanted him today on the sideline,” Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones said following Dallas’ 27-24 victory. “Jerry’s mother asked us directly as a group. She said, ‘Support him. Help him. He needs your help. Jerry wants that. I want that.’ His teammates asked him to come and be down there with them, and that’s where we are.”
“I do know that certainly that there’s the other side of the coin, but this is a case that the people that arguably he’s the closest to really wanting him around for him.”
IRVING, Texas (AP) — Dallas Cowboyspractice-squad linebacker Jerry Brownwas killed in a one-car accident Saturday and teammate Josh Brentwas charged with intoxication manslaughter.
Irving police spokesman John Argumaniz said the accident happened about 2:20 a.m. Saturday in the Dallas suburb. Brent was speeding when the vehicle hit a curb and flipped at least once, Argumaniz said.
This photo provided by the Irving Police Department shows Dallas Cowboys' Josh Brent. Brent has been charged with intoxication manslaughter after he was speeding early Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012, in Irving, Texas, and his vehicle hit a curb and flipped, resulting in the death of teammate Jerry Brown. (AP Photo/Irving Police Department)
Argumaniz says the 25-year-old Brown was found unresponsive at the scene and pronounced dead at a hospital.
The police spokesman says officers conducted a field sobriety test on Brent and arrested him. The charge was upgraded after Brown was pronounced dead.
”We are deeply saddened by the news of this accident and the passing of Jerry Brown,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in a statement released by the team. ”At this time, our hearts and prayers and deepest sympathies are with the members of Jerry’s family and all of those who knew him and loved him.”
The team said in a statement that Brent was not on the team flight to Cincinnati, where the Cowboys play the Bengals on Sunday.
The accident happened a week after another NFL tragedy. Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend and then committed suicide on Dec. 1.
Brent has played in all 12 games this season and has been a bigger presence on defense with starting nose guard Jay Ratliff battling injuries. He made his first career start the season opener against the New York Giants and has 35 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks.
The Cowboys signed Brown to their practice squad Oct. 24, but he hasn’t been on the active roster.
The New York Giants hosted the Dallas Cowboys in the NFLseason opener on Wednesday night at MetLife Stadium and gave the Cowboys a gift they’ve been waiting for all year…a win — giving the star team an upper hand in the divisional race.
Credit: Barton Silverman/The New York Time - File: Tony Romo passed for 307 yards and 3 touchdowns for Dallas in the N.F.L. season opener
The Cowboys won 24-17.
In the first quarter, the Giants kept the Cowboys off the board with a strong defensive stand. Facing a fourth-and-inches from the Giants 37, the Cowboys went for it and came up short when Lawrence Vickers was stopped for no gain.
The Giants best drive ended with a fumble by rookie running back David Wilson. Sean Lee recovered for the Cowboys on their 34.
Quarterback Tony Romo threw for 307 yards, DeMarco Murray rushed for 129 yards and Ogletree had two touchdowns.
Cowboys center Phil Costaaggravated a back injury that kept him out of most of the preseason. He was replaced by Ryan Cook.Giants cornerback Michael Coe left the game with hamstring injury.
The Giants tried to stay confident, despite the backlash from outsiders.
“We’ve already showed people who we are,” safety Antrel Rolle said. “We can care less about that. We leave that up to spectators. We’re just going out there and playing ball. And that is what it is all about. We can care less about what kind of recognition we are getting or who is crowning us and who is not crowning us. None of that matters coming into the 2012 season.”
“We all knew we were the underdogs,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in his team’s locker room afterward. “We certainly weren’t proud of the last time we were up here seven months ago. I felt like I never left the halls of this stadium when we came back in here today.
“It is really special. Our team should really be able to build and be inspired to grab this win. They earned it.”
PROSPER, Texas (AP) — Much like his playing days, Deion Sanders‘ tumultuous marriage has had no shortage of flash and drama: A reality television show, a divorce arrangement in which the couple still lived together and now, misdemeanor assault charges.
A photo provided by the Collin County Sheriff's Office shows Pilar Sanders. An inmate listing on Collin County's website early Tuesday, April 24, 2012 shows that Pilar Sanders was arrested Monday and booked into the county jail on the family violence charge. Photo: AP
Police said late Tuesday that the former Dallas Cowboys star was cited for misdemeanor simple assault in the wake of an altercation with his estranged wife, Pilar, that got her arrested Monday at their mansion in the Dallas suburb of Prosper.
The Hall of Famer had tweeted Monday that she attacked him, and he even posted a photo of his children filling out police reports. He later removed the photo and posted a new message about joy.
Police said further investigation led to a charge also being filed against the football star, though it didn’t warrant his arrest. Prosper police spokesman Celso Martinezwouldn’t detail the allegations, but said the charge covers any act considered aggressive and could be as simple as touching or defensively jerking away from someone’s grip. It carries a fine of up to $500.
Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Melissa Kellerman is reported to have had her Twitter account deleted in the aftermath of being accidentally tackled during a Thanksgiving NFL game. (Credit: Dallas Cowboys)
It appears that the Dallas Cowboys don’t want their famous cheerleaders generating their own attention. And doing so can get them kicked off Twitter.
On Thursday, during the team’s Thanksgiving Day game against the Miami Dolphins, cheerleader Melissa Kellerman was accidentally tackled at the end of a play by Cowboys tight end Jason Witten. Afterward, Kellerman tweeted light-heartedly about it. Now, according to CNBC reporter Darren Rovell, the team has forced Kellerman to delete her Twitter account.
After the tackle–which was caught live on camera (see video below) from a number of different angles–Kellerman quickly got up. Later, she posted two tweets about it. One said: “Not hurtin’ today, like some of y’all thought I would be! Our [tight end] isn’t as tough as he looks…That or I’m WAY tougher than I look. ”
Nothing controversial there, except maybe Kellerman’s tongue-in-cheek implication that Witten wasn’t tough enough to knock her out of the game, despite his pads and helmet and her skin-tight cheerleading outfit.
But that seems to have been enough to convince the Cowboys to force Kellerman off of Twitter. On Sunday, her @MelissaRae account was inactive.
The Cowboys did not immediately return a CNET request for comment Sunday.
If true–and even the NFL’s own blog thinks it is–it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Kellerman’s tweets were utterly unassuming, didn’t blame anyone, use profanity, or even make too much fun of Witten. But the team doesn’t seem to want the cheerleaders driving their own messages. Rather, it appears to want their words confined to the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders official Web site, where plenty of musings by Kellerman and her fellow pompom shakers are available. Or maybe through the cheerleaders’ official Twitter feed where, it should be noted, there’s no mention of Kellerman’s Twitter banning.
This is bad form, it seems to me. If Kellerman had bad-mouthed the team, the NFL, Witten, or anyone else, it would make sense. But she didn’t, and she looked spunky, and good-spirited in the process. By comparison, the Cowboys look tone-deaf and vindictive–and for no reason. It’s worth paying attention to this one to see if the team reverses course. In the meantime, let’s see if Kellerman starts wearing shoulder pads to the office.
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“I want to express my appreciation to Rob for all of his efforts and contributions to the Cowboys over the past two years,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said in a statement. “At this time, the decision has been made to move forward in a different direction philosophically on defense. I have an immense amount of respect for Rob as a person and as a football coach and I wish him and his family the very best.”
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