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IRVING — Dallas Cowboys nose tackle Jay Ratliff is fearless.
He is relentless. He is tenacious. He is passionate.And if you need another reason why Ratliff is starting to challenge, if not take, linebacker DeMarcus Ware’s title as best player on the Cowboys’ defense, it’s because he never backs down. At least not until talk turns to him. Praise and adulation turns the mighty Ratliff meek.He abhors it."I just want to do well. I don’t want to be the weak link on the team or anything like that. It’s as simple as that," Ratliff said, matter of factly. "That’s why I want to do well. I want to win games and I want to contribute to the team. ... To be honest, yeah, I do. That’s enough about that."But what Ratliff doesn’t want to talk about, his teammates and coaches were more than happy to oblige.To them, it’s not so much his talent, although with four sacks and a team-leading six tackles for losses, he is ranked among the league’s best interior linemen. It’s his attitude and effort they respect most.A 2008 Pro Bowler who was recently named to Sporting News’ midseason All-Pro team, Ratliff still plays every play like a former seventh-round pick fighting for his job.It has made him the heart and soul of the Cowboys’ defense, midway through the season. He sets the tone and everybody feeds off him."The way he is playing the nose position," defensive end Stephen Bowen said, "nobody has ever seen it before. He dominates anybody he goes against."He is a phenomenal player. He is always relentless. He does whatever it takes to get the play done. He feels if nobody else is going to do it, he can do it. Everybody feeds off him."Linebacker and team captain Bradie James said he and fellow linebacker Keith Brooking couldn’t do their jobs without Ratliff setting the tone up front."Man, he’s a beast," James said. "I try to key him in the run, but in the pass, he just turns it up a notch. 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."What impresses most people about Ratliff is his ability to play nose tackle despite lacking ideal size. Ratliff checks in at 6-foot-4, 305 pounds; most nose tackles are 330 pounds. What he lacks in size he makes up for with quickness, strength and passion."He is not an average nose size-wise," backup nose tackle Junior Siavii said. "But the guy’s got speed and strength. He has so much upside. He is strong. He can hold the point of attack. He can penetrate. He’s got quickness. He has the complete package."To me, what I see in him is the passion," Siavii added. "He has so much passion that he doesn’t want to lose. You see him run everywhere. It gets me hyped up to see his passion and that he doesn’t want to lose. That is him."That’s precisely Ratliff’s point. It’s home. It’s the way he’s always played and the only way he knows how to be. It’s why he doesn’t think what he is doing on the field and for the Cowboys is any big deal. Part of it is the mentality of having to work his way up from being an overlooked seventh-round draft pick out of Auburn. Part of it is having a mother and father who are both ministers and who raised him to work hard and be humble."That’s the way you play the game," Ratliff said. "That’s what you’re supposed to do; you’re supposed to play all out, and it goes back to the basic fundamentals of the game — wherever the ball is, you need to be there. You just need to show up in that picture. That’s what I’m trying to do."Every day Ratliff shows how to play the game with effort, attitude and accountability.It’s little wonder coach Wade Phillips said he wishes he could inject the whole team with Ratliff’s drive. He knows that Ratliff’s attitude and relentless play have been infectious for the Cowboys. "When you show one guy doing it, the others try to emulate those things," Phillips said. "A lot of guys don’t know they are not playing like Ratliff. They think they are playing hard. But they are not playing like Ratliff."Nobody is and nobody does.Clarence E. Hill Jr., 817-390-7760
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