IRVING, Texas -- Rob Ryan apparently needs to take a drive down Interstate 45.

I mean, gee, look how much smarter it made Wade Phillips!

Say what you want about Phillips' head-coaching credentials, but the man has always been widely respected for his X's and O's wizardry as a defensive coordinator. Until last season, at least.

Rob Ryan believes he has the best talent on defense in the NFL, but the results have been nothing more than average. Matthew Emmons/US Presswire

Wasn't it all ol' Wade's fault that the Dallas Cowboys' defense fell apart in 2010? Phillips got fired in the middle of the season, but he still took the brunt of the blame for the Cowboys allowing the most points in franchise history, much less the NFC.

Good thing he figured out how to coach again while steering that U-Haul to Houston. The Texans have the NFL's top-ranked defense despite losing Pro Bowl pass-rusher Mario Williams to injury early in the season.

The Cowboys hired Ryan to clean up the mess, but that defense reached a whole new level of stink in Sunday night's loss to the New York Giants with the NFC East lead on the line. Never before had the Cowboys allowed a 400-yard passer, 100-yard receiver and 100-yard rusher in the same game. Never before in NFL history had a team managed to lose a game in which its quarterback had a 140-plus passer rating, four touchdowns and no interceptions. But the 34 points Tony Romo & Co. provided weren't enough to offset the defensive debacle.

If you listen to some folks who watched the Cowboys defense's dazed-and-confused act against the Giants, the issue is that Ryan's scheme is too complicated. There are some players who will agree with that. Ryan even said that he might need to "eat a little humble pie" and simplify things schematically.

Puh-leeeeeze.

The real problem is as plain and simple as could be.

"We've just got to play better," nickelback Orlando Scandrick said, honest and accountable as could be. "We tried a simple scheme last year and it didn't work."

Oh, yeah, that's right. The whispers once Wade got the boot were that his scheme -- the same one that allowed the fewest points in the NFC the previous season -- was too simple, too predictable.