Cowboys welcome Tom Brady with nothing but respect

Tom Brady’s wife drew as much mention in the Dallas Cowboys’ locker room last week as the New England Patriots quarterback himself.

The Cowboys tried their best to make Brady just another “nameless, faceless” opponent. The mannequin in the plain uniform outside their locker room might as well have had a No. 12 on it.

But Brady has become one of the faces of the NFL, and while defensive end Greg Hardy’s joke about Brady’s wife, Gisele Bundchen, fell flat, it showed the Cowboys know exactly who they’re facing.

With a supermodel wife and four Super Bowl rings, Brady is a trophy quarterback.

“I guess everything that’s ever been written about him is true, all the accolades everything, but the thing I’ve always measured men in this league by is how they win,” Cowboys defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli said. “That’s the greatest compliment I could give him. He wins games. He plays within his system. They put different guys in there [on offense with him] every year, and they run their system to perfection. It’s really a testament to him and what he does.”

The Cowboys play Brady on Sunday for the first time since 2011. It marks the quarterback’s first career trip to AT&T Stadium.

For a time, it appeared Brady would end his career without ever playing a game in Arlington. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Brady four games for Deflategate, but U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman overturned Goodell’s decision last month.

In the three games Brady played that he could have missed, he completed 72.2 percent of his passes for 1,112 yards with nine touchdowns, no interceptions and a 119.6 passer rating. The Patriots have averaged 39.7 points per game while outscoring opponents by an average of 16.4 points per game.

“He’s really an amazing player,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “To think about him playing at that level for the last 15 years and maybe playing as well as he’s ever played right now, it’s amazing. He doesn’t show any signs of getting older physically. He moves around as well as he’s ever moved around. I think he’s throwing it as well as he’s ever thrown it.

“His understanding of the game has always been really, really, really high, and I think it’s probably the highest right now. He has a great command of what they want to do. He has a great command of what opposing defenses are trying to do to him. He makes adjustments within plays, within series, within games, always putting their team in a situation where they can be successful. I hold him in the highest regard.”

Brady, 38, owns a 184-55 record since taking over as the Patriots’ starter three games into the 2001 season. That includes an NFL-record 21-8 postseason mark.

Brady’s four Super Bowl victories tie Joe Montana, his childhood hero, and Terry Bradshaw for the most among quarterbacks in history.

Not bad for a sixth-round draft pick.

“I think it’s that he always has a chip on his shoulder since college, the quarterback battle he went through in college,” said Cowboys backup quarterback Matt Cassel, who spent four seasons in New England as Brady’s backup. “So I don’t think he ever takes anything for granted. He knows that the reason he got his shot is because [Drew] Bledsoe went down. He always would tell me that you never want to see somebody else doing your job. I think he always takes that approach, so because of that, it always motivates him and continues to drive him to be the best that he can be.”

On Super Bowl Sunday, Cowboys rookie defensive back Byron Jones took a break from pre-combine training in Pensacola, Fla., to watch Brady beat the Seattle Seahawks. Jones hadn’t even turned 8 years old when Brady suited up for his first game.

Now, Jones will try to keep up with Brady.

“It’s crazy,” Jones said. “When I was back at UConn, I wouldn’t think like, ‘Oh, I could be here someday,’ but here I am. So it’s pretty cool. It’s really cool.”

He isn’t just another face, or just another name. His name is Tom Brady, and winning is his game.

“The secret sauce is Tom Brady,” Cowboys defensive end Jeremy Mincey said. “You take him off it’s like taking cheese off a cheeseburger. You see what I’m saying? So he is the secret sauce.”

This story was originally published October 10, 2015 at 2:05 PM with the headline "Cowboys welcome Tom Brady with nothing but respect."