Phillips says Ratliff not falling behind

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Phillips Says Ratliff Not Falling Behind
Posted by jellis at 9/23/2010 5:40 PM CDT
Everyone respects the solemness of Jay Ratliff's situation, the Cowboys nose tackle being called home to Georgia on Wednesday and Thursday to attend the funeral of his grandparents.

Ratliff will return to Dallas on Thursday night, but has missed the two biggest game-planning days of the week. Backup Josh Brent has gotten extra work in his absence, but all indications are Ratliff will start at Houston on Sunday and play as big a role as ever.

Wade Phillips said the Cowboys can work around Ratliff's time away and get him up to speed quickly.

"A good thing about Jay is he doesn't make many mistakes," Phillips said. "And the nose guard position - we do a lot of things with him that probably other nose guards don't do - but it's still not overly complicated. We didn't put in so much that he couldn't learn it and get it done.

"He told us he's coming back tonight, so that's where we are." http://ow.ly/2JGoo