LB Antonio Pierce, 09.17.09

Q. Brandon said yesterday he hates the Cowboys with a bloody passion. Is that something that you can use to describe your feelings towards Dallas as well?

A. No, I love them. I love them like a brother.

Q. You can’t use the "h" word at all? You don’t hate them at all?

A. I love them.

Q. How different are the Cowboys games. Every game is a huge game, how different are these games on the field?

A. NFC East. They are all the same way…at the end of the day you feel sore as hell. Your body is hurting, it’s aching, but at the end of the day you want to go out there and get a win. It’s no different, it’s no hate from one team to another. I just like all 31 teams.

Q. How is their offensive scheme different without T.O?

A. A lot more guys are involved. You look at the stat sheet the other day, all three running backs touched the ball. I think both tight ends had receptions, all the receivers caught the ball, so the ball is being spread around a lot more. It makes it tough for us on defense not to focus on just one guy because we knew that he was the focal point of the offense.

Q. Is it too early to tell after one game if (Tony) Romo has taken another step in his development or you really can’t tell?

A. Don’t care.

Q. But you are playing him, so you kind of have to?

A. I do, but I am not an evaluator. I am a football player.

Q. If Terrell Owens isn’t there anymore, does that mean Romo is taking what the defense gives him instead of looking for one guy?

A. I know his ears don’t hurt as much. (Laughs) all that other stuff, I can care less. Our job is that if he is throwing the ball to #84, #19, #80, #82 and all those other guys, we have to get them down and make more plays than they do.

Q. How is (Michael) Boley looking?

A. Looking good, fresh, he’s fresh, oh man. That boy is running right now. But, he’s looking good. You can tell obviously he has been studying, it’s good for him to be out there getting those physical reps with us and I think he is excited. He’s excited to get out there and play football, it has been a long time for him. The way things ended in Atlanta with him so I know he is excited.

Q. Bill (Sheridan) said Boley should be a big help when they go to two tight ends?

A. It’s always good to keep linebackers on the field. It sucks when I am the only linebacker out there sometimes and they decide to run the ball. When you have another body out there who knows how to play the run…you can’t just talk about pass because at the end of the day this is a team that is a very good running team. So an extra linebacker always keeps me happy.