IRVING, Texas -- This Dallas Cowboys team is different than others Jason Garrett has coached, and he knows it.
You can see it in the way he coaches this squad. And you can hear it in the words he uses to describe their approach each week.
These Cowboys play with an edginess burned into their souls by players who detest losing, including Dez Bryant and Orlando Scandrick. It is a confident group that is worried about itself much more than its opponent.
It's the reason Garrett really didn't care whether the NFL upheld Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh's one-game suspension for stepping on Aaron Rodgers' leg on Sunday.
Garrett took the approach that if the NFL upheld the suspension, fine. If it allowed Suh to play, then that was cool, too.
Well, Suh successfully appealed the suspension and will play Sunday against Dallas at AT&T Stadium in an NFC Wild Card game.
It was the right move.
As dirty as Suh has been over the years, you couldn't judge with 100 percent certainty his intent to injure the Green Bay Packers quarterback, and the NFL never mentioned his previous behavior in its initial ruling. A $70,000 fine -- an amount greater than his playoff game check -- is fair.
The smartest aspect of Garrett's approach to the Suh situation is that it prevented the Cowboys from having the kind of emotional letdown that could come from the disappointment of learning such an impact opponent will be on the field Sunday after thinking he would miss the game.
Then again, these Cowboys are going to do what they do, whether Suh plays defensive tackle for the Lions, or whether Cowboys lineman Jermey Parnell starts his third straight game at right tackle instead of Doug Free.
The Cowboys are going to run the ball, and they are going to do it so well that they will make their opponent commit eight defenders to stop it. When that happens, they're going to throw deep and make big plays in the passing game.
Sure, it would have been easier to run the ball without Suh playing, but it's not like the Cowboys have never played against him. Like any terrific player, he will require special attention, but the Cowboys aren't going to change the essence of who they are for him.
"The biggest thing we try to do around here is focus on ourselves," Garrett said. "When you prepare for a game, there's personnel you get prepared for, there's scheme you get prepared for in all three phases, but the biggest thing we try to do is focus on ourselves and how we can get better."
See, this is what happens when a team understands who and what it is. Now that the Cowboys have reached that point of maturity, the game is much more about their preparation and execution than anything the opposition does.
That is because the Cowboys believe if they execute well, the opposition is helpless to stop them -- even if the foe knows the play.
Everyone seemingly wants to know why it took Garrett four years to adopt this philosophy. The last three years, the Cowboys weren't good enough to play this way.
Garrett finally has the offense he wants: a physical O-line that dominates the line of scrimmage.
These Cowboys have three linemen in the Pro Bowl -- tackle Tyron Smith, center Travis Frederick and guard Zack Martin. Excluded were Ronald Leary, whom the Pro Football Focus website deems the NFL's sixth best run-blocking guard, and Free, whom the website calls the 10th best run-blocking tackle in the league.
DeMarco Murray, who set a franchise record with 1,845 yards, led the NFL with 45 runs of 10 yards or more and finished second with 15 runs of 20 yards or more.
A team with an identity is a team that doesn't panic, which is why the Cowboys rallied from deficits of 21-0 in St. Louis, 21-10 against the Giants and 10-0 in Seattle. And it's why the Cowboys refused to abandon their running game when Philadelphia rallied from 21-0 to take a 24-21 lead three weeks ago in a game for first place in the NFC East.
These Cowboys no longer worry about the scoreboard; they focus on the play at hand. Then the next play. Then the play after that.
They're certainly not focused on Suh, or whether he's going to take a cheap shot at Martin or Tony Romo.
"He's one of the better players at his position since he's been in the league," Garrett said of Suh. "When I say we do what we do, it doesn't mean we don't watch tape or we don't understand their scheme or their players. We do.
"We just try not to get real enamored with what's going on over there. We understand their scheme, their personnel strengths and weaknesses, and we try to take full advantage of those within context of what we do."
Suh is good. So is Garrett's team. There's no need for these Cowboys to stop doing what they do just because Suh's been granted a reprieve.