Suh? Boys focus inward, not on foe

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.