know, it's only preseason, but I'm telling you, he was stirring up the offense all through training camp.
Spears, in Friday's Houston game, finished with two tackles. Both were noticeable. One he dropped Chris Taylor by himself for a one-yard gain. The second he teamed with Jay Ratliff to drop Steve Slaton for a five-yard loss, and this with another tackle for a loss this preseason, along with a quarterback pressure.
That everyone gathered around Spears here Monday caused him to sort of giggle.
"I don't know, it's kind of a double-edge sword," Spears said of being suddenly noticed, "because these games I haven't had my best technique plays, but I've been able to make some plays on the backend. So I guess that kind of goes along with what fans want to see, what media wants to see.
"I'm excited about my play, but not too excited about how my technique is."
Now these plays were made from his wide tackle position, not from nose tackle, where the Cowboys have experimented some with him this summer, giving them the opportunity to move Jay Ratliff to his left defensive end spot and insert Tank Johnson on the nose with the first-team defense.
Immediately this became validation to some that see, even the Cowboys don't think much of Spears' defensive end play. Spears heard the talk.
The next impression the move created was that the Cowboys were shopping Spears, showcasing him for a team which might have thought he'd make a perfect nose tackle in their system, but wanted to see on tape just how he played. The thought crossed Spears' mind. Mine, too, to be honest.
"Yeah, Yeah, I heard the talk," Spears said. "Anytime something comes on TV or the radio or is in the newspapers, my friends call me, 'What's going on, man? You about to get traded or you about to lose your starting spot?' So I heard it. I don't seek the info, it comes to me.
"I talked to one of my boys from home, and he says, 'Man, they trying to trade you for Anquan Boldin,'" causing Spears to shrug as if he's not losing sleep over any of this, saying, "Whatever happens, happens man."
A healthy attitude to say the least, especially in this business-oriented NFL.
"It's like whatever I need to do to stay here and play and help this team or if I had to go somewhere else, I was just going to embrace whatever situation came," Spears said. "That's my approach, this year and from now on."
So Spears simply moves on, rolling with the punches, no matter if they are uppercuts, experimenting with a move from end to nose tackle, or low blows never giving him enough credit for the selfless effort he makes on the defensive line to aid the Cowboys' ability to stop the run.
That's just what happens when you are a defensive end by trade not really playing a traditional defensive end piling up sacks, which is the surest way to make a name for yourself. But don't count on Spears propositioning for that name change I've suggested, and you probably won't hear him lashing out at his critics all that much, either.
"That ain't me, man," Spears said.
Maybe not him, but yet another job falling in my lap.
