
MIAMI - About an hour before Sunday night's kickoff, Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones showed up on the sidelines with his son and two nephews. Making his first ever Pro Bowl trip, Jones made it clear he was pulling for an NFC victory.
But his primary goal for the evening was watching his eight Cowboys players make it through the game without injury.
"No injuries . . . absolutely," Jones said.
For that matter, it was mission accomplished for the Cowboys. In fact, only a couple of NFC players - Johnny Knox and Julius Peppers - suffered any sort of injuries, according to Cowboys head trainer Jim Maurer.
The Cowboys had four players on both offense and defense and all of them but Tony Romo saw some action on special teams. But despite having players on every snap, the Cowboys will now officially head into the off-season with just a handful of injuries.
And for the most part, those injuries of minor clean-up surgeries. Center Andre Gurode, punter Mat McBriar and linebacker Bobby Carpenter have already undergone surgeries in the last two weeks. (Gurode's knee scope prevented him from making his fourth straight Pro Bowl trip).
DeMarcus Ware has said he will have a minor foot procedure to shave down a bone spur and defensive tackle Jay Ratliff said on Sunday he is contemplating having scopes on his knee and elbow.
"Even if I do that, it's not a big deal," Ratliff said following the game. "It won't be anything that sets me back. I'm not really worried about it, to be honest."
No Rest For Corners
Who says the players don't play much in the Pro Bowl? With only three corners on the roster, the Cowboys had at least one corner representative on the field for every play Sunday night. Often times, Mike Jenkins and Terence Newman played together. For the most part, the Cowboys' duo played from start to finish, including special teams.
"Man, I don't think I played this much since high school," Jenkins said. "It was fun, don't get me wrong. I loved being out there. But man, I played a lot tonight. But I expected that. I'm the new guy. So I knew I'd be playing a lot of special teams."
The same went for Newman, although for some reason, the veteran cornerback didn't seem as exhausted.
"You know it's funny, I don't really feel like I played that much, though," Newman said. "I had a lot of fun out there. I played a lot, but I don't really feel that tired."
Newman led all tacklers on the night with six stops. Jenkins finished with five tackles and one pass deflection in the end zone.
Staying On Guard
Aside from one snap this season, Leonard Davis hasn't played offensive tackle since he left the Cardinals organization after the 2006 season. But the veteran lineman was ready and willing to move outside for the Pro Bowl, if needed.
In fact, Davis thought even before Sunday's kickoff that his services at tackle would be needed, thanks to Vikings tackle Bryant McKinnie, who was dismissed by the NFC squad for missing practice on Friday and Saturday.
With only two healthy tackles for the game - Jason Peters and David Diehl - and not enough time to bring in another tackle, it was expected Davis would play some tackle in the second half.
"I thought I would but they didn't need me," Davis said. "I was ready. I haven't done it in a while. But I was ready to go out there."
Davis played six years in Arizona without one trip to the Pro Bowl, but has now been selected three straight years since signing with the Cowboys in 2007.
Campo Calls Plays
While Wade Phillips runs the defense and calls the plays for the Cowboys, he dished out those duties to secondary coach Dave Campo for this game. Remember, the NFL forces teams to play a 4-3 scheme in the Pro Bowl anyway.
Campo said it doesn't matter much, considering the defenses have only two different schemes they can play.
But it's not the first time Campo has run an NFC defense in the Pro Bowl. Following the 1994 season, Campo was promoted from secondary coach to defensive coordinator after Butch Davis left to take the University of Miami head coaching job. Davis didn't stick around to coach the Pro Bowl, so Campo's first tour of duty actually occurred in Hawaii.
"We got creamed that day," Campo recalled. "I remember Cris Carter yelling at the bench saying, 'We better get it going for this guy is going to get fired before his first game.'"
But Campo also remembers his first real game to run the defense - a 35-0 shutout against the Giants to open the 1995 season.
Remember Him?
Notice any former Cowboys in the game? If not, don't feel bad. The deep snapper from the AFC isn't mentioned much, if ever. But Oakland's Jon Condo is the only player in the Pro Bowl to have played for the Cowboys at one time.
Remember Condo back in 2005? Maybe not. But you probably remember why he got cut and the aftermath. It was Condo's bad snap against the 49ers back in a 2005 game that led to Larry Allen grabbing kicker Jose Cortez' face mask. Condo was released the following day and L.P. Ladouceur took over ever since.
Condo said he barely knew what was happening after that bad snap.
"Afterwards, I was asking, what the heck is going on? I knew it was a low snap," said Condo, who made the team as a rookie free agent from Maryland. "I really wasn't paying attention to that, I was just trying to get to the sideline."
Condo joined the Raiders in 2006 and has been one of the best snappers in the league.
"I'm a firm believer in that everything happens for a reason," Condo said. "It was a great learning experience. It taught me that I have to be on my game every day just to be out here and just to keep a job. It was a great learning experience to play for Bill Parcells and the Cowboys."
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