IRVING, Texas - It turns out Greg Ellis has always been like this. Who knew?
What's the opposite of Hakuna Matata? What we didn't realize is that Greg Ellis has never met a worry he didn't like.
From the time he walked in the door as the eighth pick in the draft in 1998, Ellis was a soft-spoken good guy. He played hard. He fought adversity. His second season ended a few weeks prematurely when he broke his leg against Philadelphia in December, but he came back. In Bill Parcells' first season as coach, Ellis was summoned to the front cabin on the team flight on the first road trip of the year where he agreed to a new seven-year contract. He was all smiles.
So when Greg Ellis became a gloomy Gus two years later, people were taken aback. He started talking about needing more financial security after the Cowboys surprisingly cut veteran linebacker Dexter Coakley before the '05 season. It was partially a financial move, and Ellis thought, if it could happen to Coakley it could happen to him.
Thus began what has seemed like an endless rollercoaster ride in the public life of Greg Ellis. He worries, he complains, he goes out and performs like gangbusters, then he comes back in and worries about where his next worry is coming from.
Because the public and most of the media had not seen this side of Ellis, his contract complaints in '05 were headline-grabbing stuff. Then came the Great Linebacker Fret of '06. Early in training camp in Oxnard, Calif., Parcells called Ellis in, told him he reminded the old coach of his New England standout, Willie McGinest, and told him to start going to linebacker meetings. Ellis was certain he was being shown the door. Why else would they take a career defensive end nine years in and move him to some foreign land? Linebacker? Might as well have been Uzbekistan.
But Ellis proved Parcells right. Then-linebackers coach Paul Pasqualoni said two weeks into that training camp, "If you didn't know Greg had never played linebacker, you sure couldn't tell it by what he's doing. He looks like a natural."
Then came the devastating injury to his Achilles in Arizona in November '06. Ellis was certain his career was over. He continued to be certain about it right up to the time last season when he got back on the field. And this spring, there were stories about Ellis complaining because Anthony Spencer was getting some of his mini-camp practice snaps. Ellis understood. They drafted a guy in the first round and they meant to give him Ellis' job.
But just when the public thinks it has tired of hearing Greg Ellis moan and bellyache about his money or the position he plays or the snaps he gets, he shows why the Cowboys wanted him in 1998, why they've wanted him since and why they want him still.
In the preseason, with the first-string defense floundering in Denver, it was Ellis who gathered the troops on the sideline, acting like the co-captain his teammates would elect him in a few days.
And Monday night, with Philadelphia looking like it was about to snatch another win from the Cowboys' grasp, it was Ellis running down old nemesis Donovan McNabb for two sacks, including a crucial one in the fourth quarter.
"I've been chasing him around for a long time," Ellis smiled in the post-game locker room Monday. "It's probably equivalent to about a mile by now. You get your hands on him and he can still get away. I told him one time tonight, 'Donovan, just go out of bounds, man! You'll make it easier on yourself and easier on me.' But these kinds of games are fun. It's fun to go out and compete against great players and see guys at their best."
The point is, what we didn't know in the beginning is that fun is not a concept that comes to Greg Ellis easily. The guy walked in the door quiet and classy, but also a world-class worrywart.
Dat Nguyen was one of Ellis' stellar teammates for years and now is on the Cowboys' defensive coaching staff, and the Ellis he sees today is what he's always remembered.
"My first memory of Greg was in my rookie year, 1999," Nguyen says. "I came in with Ebenezer Ekuban. He was Greg's good friend (in college at North Carolina), but Greg was looking over his shoulder because they drafted another guy at his position. I remember one day in mini-camp, Greg and the veterans had run their 300s. The rookies had to wait to run. When Eb beat his time, Greg went back out, ran it again and beat Eb's time and then went home."
Ellis, says Nguyen, is a tremendous competitor who hides that aspect of his personality behind a calm exterior. But to the people who know him, that's just Greg.
Dave Campo was Ellis' first pro defensive coordinator and second head coach. These two have a bond. Now back as the secondary coach, Campo confirms, this public Ellis of the last few years is what the real Ellis has always been, with improvements.
"I think he's more experienced," Campo says. "I think he's embraced his role in the defense. When he's called on to go out and jam a receiver like we asked him to do with Kellen Winslow in Cleveland, he does it. When he's called on to rush the passer, he does that. I'm not sure as a younger player he would've looked at that the same way."
Was he a worrywart when Campo coached him before?
"No question about it," comes the quick response. "That's something he's always been. When Coach Parcells moved him to linebacker, he called me about ten times. I told him, 'Hey, don't worry about it. You can play anything he wants you to play. You'll be fine.' Then he goes out and makes the Pro Bowl. I guess he's happy now.
"But it's interesting. I think there are a few guys who are very, very self-confident about what they bring to the table. But I think the majority of NFL players are nervous about who's there, who's next, what's happening next. I think Greg's been a little bit that way, but I think it's made him a better player, because he felt he had to push himself every time."
In the category of what's next, the Cowboys, who are after all managing a business, must look long range. The suggestion has been made that if Ellis, somewhere not too far down the road, could embrace the idea of being a pass-rush specialist, it could extend his career by several more years. Does Campo think Ellis could deal with such a suggestion?
"I think that would be difficult for him," says Campo. "I think he still sees himself as an every-down player. At the same time, I think he would do whatever it takes to stay in the league as long as he could, and he's smart enough to realize what he has to do."
That is not yet. It's not nearly yet. Eleven years in, Greg Ellis has finally been recognized as a Pro Bowl player. Only the late Harvey Martin led this team in sacks more consecutive seasons than Ellis. And he's out there leading the way in a huge, emotional game like Monday's.
Greg Ellis is a captain and a leader on a good team with its eyes on the biggest prize a pro football team can chase. There will be plenty of time later to find the next thing to worry about it. And he will.
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