You can always tell what articles are going to be in the Dallas papers the next morning by the questions asked at the press conferences. Yesterday, we got a couple of questions out of the blue about ILB Bradie James. I knew right then someone was preparing a Bradie James love-letter. Sure enough, the DMN’s own Breerman was the man on the job.

But there's little question inside the locker room that he is among the defense's best players. And there's even less doubt that James is the unit's undisputed leader.

True that. As BTB-regular dunkman noted in a previous post, I was very high on James in training camp because you could see his ability to get to the ball and his lighter-frame was serving him very well at camp. He was making all the plays in camp and hasn’t stopped once the season started. In Parcells’ scheme he was forced to take on the guards on almost every play, but now he transitions between that and just getting to the ball.

"I can transition back and forth," James said. "In certain situations, I have to be a 'Stack,' a Bill Parcells linebacker. And in different situations, I have to be a Wade Phillips linebacker, where I rush the passer or play sideline-to-sideline. All these things helped mold me."

Nice job, Bradie.

Remember the other day when I posted about Tony Romo not really idolizing Brett Favre and that he actually rooted for John Elway in the Super Bowl against Favre? Jason Witten calls BS on all of that.

"The truth is he loved him. He can imitate him, he can do all that stuff," Cowboys tight end Jason Witten said. "He's done a good job of relaxing and understanding where he's at. I think he's playing it off pretty good. But that's his hero."

Leave it to Romo’s best-buddy on the team to call him out.

As was noted in the diaries, Redskins safety Sean Taylor died from his gunshot wound. This story makes me incredibly sad and angry. To see such a talented guy - who by all accounts had gotten his life in order after the birth of his child - cut down in the prime of his life is tragic. As a Cowboys fan, I hated Taylor as a player because he played for the Redskins and was such a force that he scared me on the field. So the hate was as much a sign of respect as anything. But when something like this happens, it really exposes how cheap and shallow those football-rivalry feelings are, an event like this strips away the fun and games and makes you hurt for a guy and his family who was just getting started in life. I feel for his family and for the Redskins organization as whole, something like this isn’t covered in the playbook, this is something more than football. RIP Sean Taylor, and my heart goes out to all those mourning his loss. You can read more here, or you can drop by Hogs Haven and leave a condolence message.