Offensive tackle Doug Free didn't have to say as much. He knows everyone else is saying it. But he clearly was stating the obvious.
A fourth-round pick in 2007, Free is finally getting a chance to play as the replacement for Marc Colombo at right tackle.
"It's a great opportunity," Free said. "I've been here a couple of years and haven't really had much playing time yet. Now is the time to show I can play.
"I've just come every week to work. There was not a time where I said, 'I should be starting. I'm ready.' I just came to work each and every week and acted like I'm a starter in my mind because you never know when it's your time."
Free said he never worried about the situation, because the Cowboys were settled at tackle with Colombo and Flozell Adams. Even so, he was confident his day would come.
"I never put a timetable on it," Free said of getting a chance to start. "When your time is there, it's there. You can never really say this is what I'm going to do. It's not a factor you can control, so you just do what you do."
Team owner Jerry Jones said Free did a good job in spot duty against the Packers after Colombo got hurt, and he feels he will be ready to go against the Redskins on Sunday.
"There's a little of me that knows he's been at left tackle and he's going over to right tackle and because of his unique, quick feet and good feet, he may be a better left tackle than he is a right tackle," Jones said. "This is what you have to do with offensive lines and that is to give you some flexibility there.
"I thought he came in, gave a good accounting the other day and have confidence that he will play well. One of the reasons I have confidence is we have the highest paid offensive line coach in the NFL with Hudson Houck."
Back in 2006, Andre Gurode was just developing as a fulltime center for the Cowboys and defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth was on his way to being a draft bust with the Titans.
Gurode was starting to become dominant. Haynesworth was unruly and out of control, simply trying the Titans' patience. Five years after being picked 15th overall, he had yet to be a dominant player.
Their lives would change forever on Oct. 1, 2006, when the Titans and Cowboys met.
Early in the third quarter of the Cowboys' 45-15 victory, Gurode's helmet came off during a 5-yard touchdown run by Julius Jones.
Gurode was on his back. Haynesworth, standing over him, first kicked Gurode's head and then scraped his cleats across Gurode's face and forehead.
Haynesworth, out of control and out of his mind, was suspended five games and $190,000 by the NFL. It was the longest suspension ever for on-field actions.
On Sunday they will meet for the first time since the incident when the Cowboys meet the Redskins.
Of course, Gurode is now a three-time Pro Bowler with the Cowboys and Haynesworth left Tennessee to sign a seven-year, $100 million contract with the Redskins. He is widely considered the best defensive tackle in the league.
"I think that situation is behind us," Gurode said. "It's something that happened years ago. He doesn't focus on it. I don't focus on it. We just moved forward and continue to play football. You can't let what happened in the past define who you are."
Indeed.
Gurode didn't miss a game and didn't miss a beat in developing into one of the league's top centers.
He handled the situation with class from the beginning. He required 30 stitches and needed plastic surgery that offseason. But he has not looked back.
"Anytime something like that happens I think just how he handled himself in the whole situation I think you have respect for him," said tight end Jason Witten, who witnessed the blood coming out of Gurode's forehead. "He's a mauler inside and he's always been that way for a long time. He just played better and better and that could have set him back but he didn't allow that to be an excuse for him."
Haynesworth has also put the situation behind him and tried to move on. He regrets the incident and said he would not do it again if put in the same situation.
He has tried to mend fences with Gurode. The two have talked and even hung out at the Pro Bowl the past two years.
"We have been talking and everything," Haynesworth said. "We even went out together. So yeah we are cool."
"I can't name too many centers that are better than him," Haynesworth said. "He is up there with Jeff Saturday from the Colts. He is one of the best centers in the game."
Mainly Haynesworth said the incident was a crossroads for him and refused to let himself and his career be defined by it.
"It was a step in my life ...a crossroads," Haynesworth said. "I had to choose what I was going to do. Either go down and let that define me or step up and rewrite history."
SERIES HISTORY: 9tth regular-season meeting. The Cowboys lead the series, 57-37-2. The 57 wins over the Redskins are the most victories over any team in the league. The Redskins have won two of the last three meetings, including last year in Dallas, 26-24.
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