Dallas Cowboys

"It wasn't agony every game, but there were definitely some tough games,'' Ratliff said. "Sometimes it did get inflamed where I could barely hold my daughter up. The surgery went very well. I feel good."

Add in the fact that he did mixed martial arts training in the off-season to increase his craftiness with his hands, and Ratliff is poised for a big year.

He was often forced to take painkillers after games last year, as well as shots to reduce inflammation. But that was before he had off-season surgery to have the bone spurs removed. He has noticed a huge improvement.

It limited how much he could use his hands, which is key to his success as an undersized nose tackle.

He made the Pro Bowl jerset the past two years, leading all defensive tackles in sacks with 13.5, despite playing with painful bone spurs in both elbows.

The scary part for opponents in 2010 is that Ratliff might be better than ever. He will be healthier and may be on the verge of taking his game to an even more dominant level.

"He's a nice kind of quiet," Phillips said. "He is serious-minded. But he talks football a lot. He is going to do the things that make himself and the team better. He is going to impart knowledge to help others. He is one of those guys. They are not worried about themselves. They are worried about getting the team better."

Ratliff is the one setting the tone this time. Since arriving as cheap Cowboys jersey coach in 2007, Phillips has watched Ratliff bloom on the field and in the locker room. Ratliff is still relatively quiet, but when he talks, his teammates pay attention and take him seriously.

"We are more of a team than any of the others I have been on," Ratliff said. "This team is really close. Nobody talks about the Super Bowl jersey  [in Arlington] and what we need to do to get there. Everyone knows. Everyone is just trying to work and get better so we can get to where we need to be."

Ratliff said the Cowboys have learned from their past mistakes.

A void in leadership has been a downfall of some talented Cowboys teams in recent years -- most noticeably the 2008 squad, which came into the season talking Super Bowl but failed to make the playoffs because of injuries and infighting.

"I don't care about all of that," Ratliff said. "I just come out here trying to do my job and make this team better. I'm not just trying to produce. I'm trying to keep this chemistry and unity we have intact."

Ratliff downplayed it all, saying he is focused solely on doing whatever it takes to make the Cowboys better.

"I can't say enough good things about him," coach Wade Phillips said. "He has been a real pro on and off the field. He talks to young players all the time or other players. That's what you look at as a coach."

That was just the first public evidence of his influence and growing presence on a team that has larger-than-life stars and leaders in quarterback Tony Romo, tight end Jason Witten and linebackers Ware, Bradie James and Keith Brooking.

Ratliff drew a crowd of media after practice Thursday because he stayed late to work one-on-one with rookie free-agent lineman Phil Costa.

But if the Cowboys are going to realize their Super Bowl dream and stop the trend of being a talent-laden team that can't get over the hump, it might be because of the quiet emergence of Ratliff as a leader off the field and in the locker room.

He is certainly the heart and soul of the defense, because the only thing that surpasses his talent is his work ethic and unyielding desire to succeed.

A first-team All-Pro in 2009, not only is Ratliff the best at his position in the NFL but he might arguably be the Cowboys' best player.

Now, the Cowboys don't know what they would do without him.

He was moved back and forth from end to nose tackle.

When nose tackle Jay Ratliff came to Dallas as an unknown, seventh-round pick in the much-ballyhooed 2005 draft class that featured first-round picks DeMarcus Ware jersey and Marcus Spears, the Cowboys didn't know what to do with him.