Cowboys Deem
Titans Hard Working
Titans Radio.com
Irving, TX.,
Wednesday,
October 6, 2010. The Dallas Cowboys
disagreed with the Broncos calling the
Titans "cheap" following the Titans week
four 26-20 loss to Denver.
Dallas head
coach Wade Phillips said the Titans are a
hard working team, not cheap, and there is a
difference.
"I don’t see
them as cheap at all," Phillips said. "I
think they play hard. I disagree with
whatever Denver said from watching the film.
I coached with Jeff Fisher, and I know how
he coaches and what kind of guy he is. I
know what he is telling his players. I see a
really hard working team that gets after you
on defense, but that is what defense is all
about. I don’t see any of that."
Cowboys
starting quarterback Tony Romo agreed with
Phillips and said the Titans have the
mentality that they have to always play
hard.
"I think that’s
the biggest thing, they want to be involved
on every play and guys are going to run to
the ball," Romo said. "That’s what they do
there; that’s just part of their philosophy,
and that’s the way they’re going to play the
game of football. I don’t know that it’s
anything cheap; I haven’t been a part of it,
so it’s just speculation until I see
anything, but you just see a lot of guys
flying to the ball out there."
The Titans
racked up nine personal fouls in their loss
to Denver, but Phillips said he does not
expect the Titans to allow that to happen in
week five.
"I think
whatever happens during the game, happens
during the game," Phillips said. "I don’t
expect them to get a lot of personal fouls
anymore. It is like us; we have had
penalties, and we try to make sure we don’t
have them again. I know Jeff (Fisher) does
the same thing."
Having played
on teams who have faced penalty issues, Romo
said the Titans must focus on correcting the
mental error penalties, not necessarily the
penalties that result from effort.
"It just has to
be a point of emphasis. It depends on the
penalties, a lot of them are effort
penalties—it’s hard to coach people how to
effort. They’re giving you 100 percent and
something happens and a lot of it is at the
discretion of the referee. Did the ball
carrier all of a sudden get by a wide
receiver who was blocking his guy, and it
looks like a hold? If it’s across the other
side of the field it’s not a hold—a lot of
it is just at the mercy of what they do
sometimes. Then there are the other ones
that are not smart penalties and those are
the ones you have to correct."
While the
Titans seem to be building this reputation
as being a "cheap" team, Phillips said their
reputation should not have an impact on
officiating during a game even though he
would like it to.
"Well I hope so
[laughter]," Phillips said. "No, I don’t
think so. I think they officiate the game
that is played and how it is played. I don’t
see that. I wouldn’t think the officials
would look at it one way or the other except
it is another game and we officiate what we
see. That is what I expect from National
Football League officials."
