Quotes and highlights from the latest press conference.  Not sure if this should have been a fanshot or fanshot, either way I apologize if I put this in the wrong category.  Just thought that you guys would like to here the input of the coordinators on a game as important as this

Mornhinweg:

Opening remarks: "The last game was a good one. It starts with the offensive line, they played pretty well. Our tight end (Brent Celek) played real well. Our quarterback (Donovan McNabb) played exceptionally well. All of the receivers played at a high level. (FB) Leonard (Weaver) excelled at a role that is fairly new to him with us. (RB) LeSean (McCoy) broke out there on that one run. That game is over. We need to move on. We started to refocus yesterday on a big game here on Sunday night against the Cowboys."

On how much better Dallas is playing defensively than at the beginning of the season: "They are playing at a high level, defensively. They are highly talented. They are playing fast. They're playing with confidence. The general statistics, with the exception of third down, they're pretty good on third down, but the general statistics, they aren't ranked real highly in many things except the third down. However, they are giving up very few points. They are a top-10 team in giving up points. I categorize them as a top-10 team, defensively, especially after the past couple of games."

On whether the Cowboys are rotating linebackers more than they have in the past: "Yeah, (LB Bobby) Carpenter is in on situational aspects of the game, especially their sub packages in the nickel, he's an active player. He's very good. He's made a couple of real good tackles with a blocker right there. In fact, he got cut one time and then made the tackle immediately after that for a two or three yard gain on third-and-about-eight. He's playing at a high level and they are using him and they are putting him in situations that are his strength, so he's doing a good job there. He has coverage responsibility as well. He blitzes. It looks like he's tackling well."

On Cowboys LB Keith Brooking: "Brooking, I've always had great respect for him as a football player there in Atlanta. He's a heck of a player and I think he brings some juice for them, too. He's playing at a high level as well."

On how much Celek's blocking has helped: "Brent is playing at a high level both on the line of scrimmage and in the pass game. He's doing an exceptional job. There are a couple of things that we can get better at there. We try to get better every day at something, individually and as a team. He certainly is playing at an exceptionally high level, so his challenge is to get better at something every day and then continue to play at that high level on a consistent basis, but I would expect him to do that each and every game. Sometimes the stats will be a little bit better than others, but even when the stats aren't, he's playing at a high level."

On Cowboys DT Jay Ratliff: "He's a heck of a player. They are talented across the board. They are talented up front. They're talented at linebacker. They have some excellent cover corners and their safeties are very good, they play sort of toward the call so they free themselves up just a little bit. They are a highly talented defense with an excellent scheme, and Ratliff is one of those highly talented players. They've put him a situation where he either draws help or the matchup usually is in his favor."

On how RB Brian Westbrook looked in practice yesterday: "Good. I think he's good. He's one of the dynamic players in this league when he's healthy, so I'm anxious to get him back."

On the physicality of the Dallas defense and where he thinks they rank in the league: "They're a physical football team. They come after to you. They are aggressive. Now, they had some injuries last year, if you remember, so that sort of took them out of the game that they want to play. They are playing very aggressive right now. They are a little bit healthier at the cover spots. They've added some people to the linebacker spot, and they've always had an excellent – (LB DeMarcus) Ware is the guy that you have to know where he's at every play. Then, the problem you have is they have some other, we already talked about one of them, but they have some other men where if you get them in a one-on-one situation that the matchups are usually in their favor."

On him saying a few weeks ago that the Wildcat wasn't working, and whether that is the reason why they didn't use the Wildcat much last week: "I don't think I ever said that, that it wouldn't work. It's been pretty good. The one ball game where our yards per carry was down just a little bit, we misblocked a couple of things and it's my responsibility. We have to block the thing right. We were seven-on-seven inside the box. That stuff is good. We'll use it. We'll use it situationally. If it's working we'll use it a little bit more. But we misblocked a couple of things that ball game."

On how different Dallas is this year compared to last year's 44-6 victory: "Last year's game has nothing to do with this year's games. They're a different team. Now when you look at it and you study and players look at it and those sorts of things, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the next ball game, even in the same year it has nothing to do with it. Teams change drastically from week to week, let alone a whole season."

On how beneficial it is having Westbrook back on the field in whatever capacity he is used: "It's good to have Brian Westbrook back. Brian is one of the elite, dynamic players in this league when he's healthy. Like I said, I'm anxious to have him back. You're right, you can put him in so many different spots where he's effective and put a little more heat on the defense that way. This is a team that you can do that with."

On whether he has ever had so many new players in key roles: "The fullback is new here. The left tackle (Jason Peters) is new. (G/T) Todd (Herremans) has been out. We've been banged up pretty good. Those guys up front, there were three of them – I was concerned a couple of weeks ago about making it through the game, more than a couple of weeks ago, but they gutted it out. We're a little bit healthier there, so that's first. Second, your main question I suppose is there are a lot of new players and young players, yeah. This is probably the most, yeah. I haven't gone back and figured it out or anything; I don't pay much attention to that because they are all good players and so they are talented. Then, it's my responsibility and the responsibility of the assistant coaches to get them playing at a high level as quickly as possible and that's what they've done. Now we've been up and down just a little bit and so hopefully we can play at that high level that we've played at in more than spurts. We play at that high level and do it a little bit more consistently. I will tell you that with all the new players and the young players that are playing for us on offense, the assistant coaches, the individual position coaches are really key there. I'm fortunate we have some of the best position coaches there are in this league. (Wide receivers coach) David Culley, he's had a rookie back-to-back (years) starting, along with other new players. (Tight ends coach) Tom (Melvin)'s done a great job with the tight ends. He's had new guys in and the tight ends that play for Tom play at a high level. Same with (running backs coach) Ted (Williams), every running back that comes in that plays for Ted plays at a high level. Then, (offensive line coach) Juan (Castillo) takes free agent guys and mulls them into a pretty good offensive line. Then, (quarterbacks coach) James (Urban) has done a great job with the quarterbacks this year. We have great talent there and he's done an excellent job there. Then, (offensive quality control coach) Doug (Pederson) is involved in many aspects of what we do. But my point is, we have great position coaches and they take great pride in what they do. They bust their butt and the players understand that and in return the players bust their butt and then it works that way."

On how the Cowboys can use Ware anywhere: "That's a good point. They do play him a little bit unexpectedly where you may not plan to see him. That's a gameplan thing. You try to know where he's at. The one thing I'll say about him is he is a dynamite player. He is fast and quick like a running back-linebacker-receiver type guy. He's big and strong as well. He's really an elite player in this league and one of the best pass rushers. He had 20 sacks last year."

On how much he has discussed the Cowboys' defense with special assistant/defense coach Brian Stewart: "I discussed it with him. He has great knowledge. That's normal for what we do."

On the amount of extra work the coaches do with rookies after practice: "We always do a lot pre-practice and post-practice and you'll probably see more in post-practice. Now this year there is extensive work and there were some reasons for that. (WR) Jeremy (Maclin) came into camp late so that was important. We had a lot of new and young players that we were counting on. Then, with (QB) Michael (Vick), it was really important that way. Then, with (QB) Kevin (Kolb), who is a young quarterback, great experience in preseason, and had not played much in all in a league game, it was important for him as well. All of those things were important and all of the fellows I mentioned did a heck of a job with that. And then we still continue that."

McDermott:

On whether he agrees with Cowboys WR Roy Williams' comments that QB Tony Romo is only throwing nice passes to WR Miles Austin? "I don't know it looks like, to me, that he's throwing pretty good passes everywhere, all over the field."

On what his plans are for the rotation at free safety this weekend: "The good part about that rotation at safety is that we have three players that we have confidence in, with Sean (Jones), Macho (Harris) as well as Quintin (Demps) and they have all experienced some amount of success at the position. If all three are healthy and available then we will look to use their talents in different situations in the game."

On who will start at free safety: "It depends on the situation in the game."

On the differences in their skill sets: "You are talking about two younger players and an older player who's been around and the experience factor, number one, is what separates Sean. He is a bigger body that tackles well and he does a great job on the field communicating with (S) Quintin Mikell at the same time. With Macho, (he is) a good natural football player. (He is) a guy that has played the corner position, can cover in the slot and has done a good job over the first couple of games at safety."

On who is the starting free safety is right now: "It's going to be a game-day decision. Right now Sean Jones is the starter."

On the Cowboys offensive line: "They do a heck of a job up front and like most teams everything starts up front and that's no different with the Cowboys. They've got some big hogs up front and they're tough to penetrate through. They've got a brick wall. They do a good job protecting Romo and giving him time to throw."

On the challenges of defending TE Jason Witten: "He certainly does (present a big challenge) and he's done it over the last several years that he's played there and in the division as well. He's a guy that we have to be aware of, not only in the passing game but also in the running game. He does a great job at the line of scrimmage. He's a fierce competitor, just having worked with him over at the Pro Bowl like we have, gotten to know him a little bit. I have a lot of respect for him as a football player."

On whether he expects to have LB Chris Gocong back and who will fill in for him if he can't play: "We're not sure at this point with Chris. I think we'll know a little bit more as the week progresses. (LB) Moise (Fokou) would be the guy, at this point, that would step up and that's where we stand."

On whether Fokou has progressed so far this season: "He has, number one it starts with hard work as it always does and Moise is one of the first in and last to leave. He's done a heck of a job preparing himself for this challenge."

On having flexibility at safety: "It all starts in the secondary with what we can do at the corner position on the edge and then it builds back inside with the three guys at the one position that you're talking about. It's good to have three guys with some versatility that we can get on the field based on the situation."

On why they've been able to create turnovers more frequently this season: "Anytime you get turnovers it helps the offense. That's the number one thing that we want to do is we want to help out offense and put them in a position to score. We've been able to do that up to this point in the season and we're going to do our best to continue to do that the rest of the season. The difference this year, primarily, I believe has been – you're looking at corners that are planting and driving on the football and attacking the football. That goes all across the board to the linebacker position, the safety position and so on and so forth. It has to start with corners who can cover, which we have and then it goes right back to our core, which is playing aggressive, nasty football."

On what makes CB Asante Samuel so good at getting interceptions: "What makes him so good? He has great awareness and instincts outside. He studies the game, he studies the opponent and I think it all starts from there."

On the development of Austin this season: "He's always been a good receiver and he's always been a guy that we've had to be aware of when he came into the game, whatever role that may have been. This year specifically, to me, what's different is that he's on the field more and so he has more opportunities and that skill set that he brings to the table then has a chance to unfold and expose defenses and defensive backs and so on and so forth. He's a threat out there for sure."

On what he focuses on as a defensive coordinator when facing a balanced offense like the Cowboys: "We just try to focus on ourselves and make sure we're fundamentally sound. You're not going to be able to know when they are going to run and pass. We have to make sure that everything we do is fundamentally sound, scheme-wise and technique-wise. That we tackle well and I thought that was one of the best things we did last week, was we tackled well as a team on defense."

On whether he is happy with the run defense this season: "We've done a good job up to this point. I don't want to say happy or satisfied. Those are all the wrong words to use at this point in the season. We look to improve each and every day."

On what Demps did to earn increased playing time: "He's always been a guy that we've had confidence in. He's only in his second year, so he's a young guy and he has a bright future in this league. There are, as I mentioned before, certain skills that he brings to the table that are going to enhance what we do as a defense on a week to week basis. Last week, specifically, we felt like he would give us – he would add value to the defense. Getting him on the field would benefit us and in the end he did a great job."

On how much LB Will Witherspoon will factor into defending Witten: "As I mentioned before, we've got to know where 82 is all the time. In every personnel group that they put out there he's a guy that they look to. If it's Will, if it's another linebacker, if it's a defensive lineman, if it's a safety, they need to be studying film and know exactly what 82 does, when he does it and where he does it from."

On whether it's difficult to break down and study Dallas' frequent two tight end sets: "It is simply because they have different – like our safeties, they bring different skills to the table with the two and three tight end sets that they use. They can line up and pound the ball on you from that personnel group, or they can spread you our and try to throw the ball on you. Being multi-dimensional obviously proposes a threat to the defense."

On what about Romo allows him to succeed: "They've got a great scheme with what (offensive coordinator) coach (Jason) Garrett does down there and when (Romo) looks to execute the scheme, to me, it seems to roll pretty smoothly. When he gets outside of the scheme, perhaps, is where things have broken down over the years. I haven't seen that scheme breakdown, unfortunately, up to this point. As I mentioned earlier in the week they are rolling on all cylinders right now, which is – I think they are the number two ranked offense in the league."

On being aware of Romo when he gets out of the pocket and when plays break down:  "I mentioned to the team this morning that part of their success on offense is due in part to those plays. Those (QB) Brett Favre type plays, where he scrambles, the play breaks down, he checks the ball down to a running back, finds a tight end, gains a first down with his feet, or throws the ball down the field, finding a receiver when he's going through the impromptu that he does. Yards after breakdown, so to speak, I don't know if that's a stat but he does a great job with it and we have to be aware of it." 

On whether LBs need to keep their lanes when facing a QB like Romo who can move around: "That is a factor and a consideration. Every week it's different. If we blitz do we want to make sure we stay on our track, so to speak, or do we want force him to break containment? This week it's important that we try to trap that quarterback and that he does not get out of the pocket, either outside or up the middle."

On keeping continuity among linebackers with new personnel: "The players work hard and there is no way we could have the success that we've had up to this point without the attitude, the effort and the talent they bring to the table. Those guys, whoever has been in there, they do a heck of a job from Monday through Saturday night to master the game plan and also master the opponent."