In a news conference introducing the Dallas Cowboys coaches for the 2013 season, Callahan downplayed any potential changes within the structure of the offensive staff.

“I checked my ego at the door a long time ago,” said Callahan, who has called the offensive plays with the Oakland Raiders and the University of Nebraska, where he was a head coach.

“It doesn’t matter who calls the plays. We know what the play is going to be so there’s no guessers, no surprises and I think the players can tell you that as well. If you’re a good football team and you have an identity of what you’re doing, they can tell you the play that’s going to be called and featured in that particular down and distance, there’s no mystery,” he said.

There seems to be a mystery regarding the playcaller, especially after team owner/general manager Jerry Jones wanted to make change within the coaching staff by saying he wanted people uncomfortable. Jones said it would be Garrett’s decision to decide if he didn’t want to call the offensive plays anymore.

Callahan said he embraces Jones’ thoughts and he hasn’t spoken to the owner regarding the playcalling but, “I would be very happy to speak with him.”

The Cowboys had the seventh-best offense in the league yet there was some game mismanagement issues with Garrett and the running attack finished 31st overall. Each year, Garrett said he’s delegated duties to other offensive coaches. However, after the 2012 season, Garrett said he expected the status quo to remain in terms of calling the plays.

Jones changed the dynamic at Valley Ranch insisting his coaching staff be open minded about things. Garrett has agreed, however, he won’t reveal if one of those changes is giving the play-calling duties to Callahan.

Garrett said the mechanics needed to be worked out before a final decision is made about the playcaller. When asked about the specifics, Garrett wouldn’t say.
“I got the upmost confidence in Coach Garrett and what he believes and how he wants to go about the process of going through playcalling, whatever it may be,” Callahan said. “So be it. My job and my function as an assistant is to serve the head coach and I’m going to do that to the best of my ability every day I come to work you put your best foot forward and compete.”

Callahan dismissed the notion that he would have to implement the West Coast offense, something he used with the Raiders, over Garrett’s timing-based passing attack.

Callahan said he’s been around long-enough to work with any offensive system. The only difference is the terminology.

“Again, I’ve partaken in playcalling during the games here,” Callahan said. “I’ve done it at several places. It’s a group effort whether it’s collecting thoughts on the sidelines between series as to what plays we’d like to run and getting those ideas from the staff, whether it’s doing it while we are online during the course of a series, whether it’s on the sidelines and somebody’s the primary caller, it really doesn’t matter because I just hearken back to the point I made about preparation of the game plan. It’s a group effort.”

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“Sure. I think we put much more time in this year than we — for example, like last year, when we played the Super Bowl, it was our first game without him in two years,” Brady said during his weekly appearance on the “Dennis and Callahan Show” on Boston sports radio station WEEI. “Not that that’s any excuse because there are no excuses, but there’s an uncertainty of how guys are going to play and step in. Well we know now, we know the types of packages we’ll use and what we’ll do and the different ways we’ll try to find some weakness in the defense based on our groups and so forth.”

It was the same arm that Gronkowski broke Nov. 18 against the Indianapolis Colts. Gronkowski missed five games because of the original injury but played in New England’s regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins.

Gronkowski, who had a team-leading 11 touchdown catches this season, will require a second surgery on his arm, sources told ESPN.

Gronkowski, who had the forearm heavily wrapped, appeared to suffer the injury while attempting to make a catch in the first quarter. The two-time Pro Bowler returned to the Patriots’ sideline early in the second half but eventually departed with members of the team’s medical staff and did not return to New England’s 41-28 victory over the Texans.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick credited both Shane Vereen and Michael Hoomanawanui for stepping up Sunday to fill Gronkowski’s absence.

“It’s disappointing to not have Rob available, but I thought that Shane and Hooman both did a great job of stepping in to the game yesterday,” he said.

When asked if Gronkowski was 100 percent entering the game, Belichick reiterated what he said Sunday.

“I covered that yesterday. He was cleared medically,” he said. When pressed for more information, he adamantly responded, “I don’t have anything to add to it.”

Brady added that offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ ability to excel when the team has had to adjust this season gives him confidence.

“That’s what Josh does better than anybody else that I’ve been around; his ability to adjust like he’s done all season,” he said. “That’s just the way it’s gone. I think we’ve played a bunch of games now, we’ve never really been fully healthy, and obviously now won’t be.

“But you know what? We’ve still got a very good team and there’s different guys that step up and make those big time plays, whether it’s Wes [Welker] or Brandon [Lloyd] or Deion [Branch] or Shane or Rid [Stevan Ridley] or Woody [Danny Woodhead], Aaron Hernandez had another big game. They’ve got to stop all of us, and that’s what we’ve got to continue to do this week.”

Woodhead also was injured against Houston when he hurt his thumb carrying the ball on the Patriots’ first offensive play. The club provided no update on his condition Sunday but Belichick said Monday that the running back could have re-entered the game if he was needed.

“Now that we are into a new week, we will re-address the whole situation and try to get a good feel of what he would and wouldn’t be available to do, and how functional he would be doing it,” Belichick said. “So I would say that’s something we’ll have to look at during the week.

“Assuming the doctors clear him to play, which is a medical decision, then the next situation would be from a football decision, what can he do and how well can he do it? & That would all be determined at a later point in time.”

Brady and his team will now focus their attention on the AFC Championship Game and the Baltimore Ravens, a team they lost to back in Week 3. Brady said he’ll use that tape to study this week, while also noting the familiarity between the two teams, who also met in last season’s AFC title game.

“We learn from the last game, but like I said last week, it’s just more of a few matchups and so forth,” Brady said. “I think you get a feel for some coverages, but we’ve played them enough where we know the players, we know their strengths, we’ll just work hard to see what they’ve done since our game. There’s a lot of tape to be watched, but they’re playing their best football right now.

“The way their offense played [against the Broncos on Saturday], I did see a few of those Torrey Smith catches and those were incredible. He had a great game against us and he had a great game on Saturday. They’ve got a very good offense, very good defense, they’ve got some Pro Bowl special teams guys, they’ve got a great team and they’re very well coached. That’s why they’re in the same position that they were last year. I feel the same way about us. I feel we’ve got the best coaching, we’ve got a lot of mentally tough players, physically tough players that are going to be facing our toughest challenge of the year. I know we’ll be ready for it when we kickoff next week.”

Before the Patriots had even punched their ticket to the AFC title game, Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo fueled the anticipation for this week’s game with some inflammatory remarks on Twitter about the Patriots’ offense, referring to the Patriots’ up-tempo attack as a “gimmick.”

Ayanbadejo later apologized for his comments in a Monday tweet.

Asked whether his team would once again push the tempo against the Ravens next week, Brady replied. “We’re going to play the style that we’ve played all year. I don’t know what we are going to do. I just woke up this morning.”

Brady made it clear that he didn’t need the remarks for motivation, instead focusing on the fact that his team is one win away from a return to the Super Bowl.

“That’s the only motivation we need,” he said. “That’s the ultimate motivation.”

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While New England was in the process of defeating the Houston Texans on Sunday to set up an AFC Championship Game rematch with Baltimore, Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo ripped the Patriots on Twitter, particularly criticizing their no-huddle offense.

“New England does some suspect stuff on offense. Can’t really respect it. Comparable to a cheap shot b4 a fight,” Ayanbadejo tweeted.

Ayanbadejo will get an opportunity to see New England’s offense in person next Sunday when the Ravens visit the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game for the second consecutive season. New England won last year’s meeting, 23-20, thanks to a missed field goal by Baltimore’s Billy Cundiff as time expired.

The Patriots gained 457 yards of total offense in Sunday’s 41-28 victory over the Texans, as Tom Brady passed for 344 yards while orchestrating a hurry-up offense that confounded Houston throughout the contest.

But Ayanbadejo was unimpressed, referring to the Patriots’ approach as “a gimmick.”

“Are you watching the game pats vs texans?” Ayanbadejo tweeted. “If so you see the hurry snap offense catch em b4 they set up. It’s a gimmick.”

He later tweeted: “Their offense is good enough to be successful with out that.”

Ayanbadejo proceeded to make a critical reference to the Spygate scandal and Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s decision to cut wide receiver Tiquan Underwood one day before Super Bowl XLVI.

SN: AFC Championship Game

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“You know the same organization that did spygate and cut a guy the day b4 the Super Bowl,” he tweeted.

Ayanbadejo also referred to the Patriots’ 2007 season, when they completed the only 16-0 regular season in NFL history but lost to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII.

“18-1,” he tweeted.

The Ravens rallied past the Patriots for a 31-30 victory in Week 3 this season. Ayanbadejo, who did not record a tackle in that contest, posted several tweets stating that he “Can’t Wait!” for the latest rematch between the rivals.

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Gronkowski, who had a team-leading 11 touchdown catches this season, will require a second surgery on his arm, according to sources.

Pro Football Talk reported earlier that Gronkowski would undergo the season-ending surgery.

Gronkowski appeared to suffer the injury while attempting to make a catch in the first quarter. The two-time Pro Bowler returned to the Patriots’ sideline early in the second half but eventually departed with members of the team’s medical staff and did not return to New England’s 41-28 victory.

He was seen leaving the Patriots locker room wearing a sling on his left arm just as the media entered after the game.

“It’s always a tough break,” Patriots guard Logan Mankins said. “Everyone on the team loves Rob. Loves him as a person, player. It’s a tough break for him, and it’s always a tough break for our team, but whoever gets put in that spot, they have to do that job. We’re all counting on him.”

It was the same arm that Gronkowski broke on Nov. 18 against the Indianapolis Colts.

Gronkowski missed five games because of the original injury but played in New England’s regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins.

Although Gronkowski had his forearm heavily wrapped, Patriots coach Bill Belichick said he did not regret allowing the star tight end to play.

“The doctors handle medical decisions,” Belichick told reporters after the game.

Patriots running back Danny Woodhead and rookie defensive end Chandler Jones also left Sunday’s game.

“We had a whole plan built for (Gronkowski) and Woody,” quarterback Tom Brady said. “We run the first series of the game and all those plans change. I think a little of it was, ‘What are we going to do now? How are we going to adjust?’ But we seemed to settle in there midway through the first quarter and put together a pretty good game.

“Obviously it’s a bummer to lose anybody, but someone of Rob’s importance or Danny’s importance, we need guys to step in and fill the void, whether it’s this game or any game after.”

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“I mean, I’m hoping,” Hackenberg said as he prepared to begin workouts on Monday for the Under Armour All-America Game at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports. “I’ve got my fingers crossed.”

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported Sunday that O’Brien may be on more short lists for NFL teams — including the Cleveland Browns and Philadephia Eagles — than Oregon coach Chip Kelly, according to league sources.

The 6-foot-4, 212-pound Hackenberg said he spoke with O’Brien about NFL jobs “a month or two ago.”

“He’s not worried about it,” Hackenberg, who is also the No. 16 player in the nation, said. “He’s worried about coaching Penn State.”

Hackenberg showed his loyalty to PSU by sticking to his commitment, made in February, through the July revelation of NCAA sanctions in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Penn State was banned from the postseason for four years and docked 40 scholarships over the same period.

The quarterback cited his relationship with O’Brien and Penn State quarterbacks coach Charlie Fisher as a primary factor in his decision to stay with the Nittany Lions.

“My parents felt comfortable handing me over to them for four years,” Hackenberg said. “I really felt a connection with those guys and felt a comfort level with them that I had nowhere else.”

If O’Brien left before signing day on Feb. 6, Hackenberg said he would reconsider his options.

“I’d think about it,” Hackenberg said. “He was a big part of it. He’s the guy who’s going to develop me. That’s one of the big things I looked at. I’ll see what happens.”

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