Ratliff: Cowboys Defense to be Quiet, Confident in 2012

All-Pro nose tackle Jay Ratliff wants to just shut up and play in 2012

Jay Ratliff hasn’t done much talking this offseason, and in one of the few interviews he’s given since the Cowboys’ season ended with a loss to the New York Giants on New Year’s Day--an appearance on 1310 the Ticket on Wednesday--the All-Pro nose tackle devoted much of his airtime to talking about how he didn’t plan on talking much from here out.

 “We’re not going to sit here and talk about what we’re going to do this year or all the expectations everyone else has for us,” Ratliff said, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.“I think the attitude for us this year needs to be we’re going to be quiet. To put it bluntly, we’re going to shut up, not say a thing and do our jobs.”

Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan suggested earlier this offseason that he felt the defense suffered from a lack of confidence in 2011, a problem that Ryan says was present when he arrived in Dallas last year. Judging by Ratliff’s comments, this won’t be much of a problem in 2012.

“The defense is way more confident this year,” Ratliff said. “You have players really stepping up. One player that comes to mind is Jason Hatcher. We’re looking for him to have a breakout season. He’s more confident in the defense. He’s doing great things, creating a lot of disruption. The defensive backs are all over the place. Those guys are communicating. Everyone’s challenging the pass. No one’s sitting there waiting for the ball to come to make a tackle. They’re going for the ball.

“It’s a really aggressive defense.”

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