Cowboys’ Rob Ryan is keeping it quiet

Rob Ryan, defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys, has tried something new heading into Sunday’s game at New England:

The silent treatment.

Ryan, whose comment that Detroit’s Calvin Johnson would be the third-best receiver on the Cowboys came back to haunt him, thought it best to keep his opinions to himself on the Patriots’ Wes Welker.

“I’m afraid to comment on wideouts,” Ryan told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram when asked about Welker. “Apparently, I don’t know anything.”

Johnson caught two fourth-quarter touchdown passes against the Cowboys in Detroit’s come-from-behind victory at Dallas. He leads the league with nine touchdown receptions, nearly twice as many as Patriots Welker and Rob Gronkowski, tied for second with five each.

“I’m taking a beating for that,” Ryan said. “I’m not going to compare anybody anymore, even though [Dallas receiver] Dez Bryant did catch two TD passes, same as the other guy. But I’ve given that up.”

The Lions, meanwhile, play host to San Francisco on Sunday, and the 49ers were careful not to provide the same bulletin-board fodder.

Vic Fangio, San Francisco’s defensive coordinator, was appropriately deferential to the 6-foot-5 receiver nicknamed “Megatron.”

“First off, I want to say he would be the best receiver on our team, not the third best,” Fangio told reporters.

“So we have a tremendous amount of respect for him.”

Fangio compared Johnson to Randy Moss, except the Lions receiver is thicker and stronger than the longtime NFL star.

“He’s listed at 235,” the coach said. “I think he might be more than that. He’s just a rare guy.

“He’s that big but yet runs as fast as he does. He’s a real challenge for you in the coverage area.”

Quite a feet

Carolina rookie Cam Newton leads all quarterbacks with five rushing touchdowns, three more than anyone else on that list.

That total, through five games, already ties Newton for fourth-most by a rookie quarterback since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.

Two more of those, and Newton would tie Vince Young -- who had seven for Tennessee in 2006 -- for the most by a first-year quarterback.

The most rushing touchdowns in a season by a rookie quarterback (since 1970; *through five games), according to the NFL:

YEAR, QUARTERBACK, TEAM, TD
2006, VINCE YOUNG, Tennessee, 7
2001, CHRIS WEINKE, Carolina, 6
2010, TIM TEBOW, Denver, 6
1979, JACK THOMPSON, Cincinnati, 5
2011, CAM NEWTON, Carolina, *5

Colt play

Here’s something that would have been hard to predict: One of the hottest quarterback-receiver tandems in the league over the last two weeks is Indianapolis’ Curtis Painter and Pierre Garcon.

They have combined for 271 yards and four touchdowns in the last two games.

Painter replaced the concussed (and ineffective) Kerry Collins, signed by the Colts to fill in for the injured Peyton Manning.

Painter has a 100.0 passer rating and hasn’t had a pass intercepted.

“A lot of people don’t understand the difficulty of being a backup quarterback in this system behind Peyton,” receiver Austin Collie said, according to the team’s website.

“It is difficult, and there’s a lot that goes into it. I think you take any one of the quarterbacks that came out with Curtis and put them in this system and this circumstance, and they are going to struggle.

“Curtis is a tremendous athlete. He’s a tremendous quarterback, and I really think that’s starting to show. You can’t judge a quarterback in this system, in this organization by the first two or three years.”

It takes two

Another slice of NFL history is in reach for the Patriots.

With their next victory, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick will tie Hall of Fame members Dan Marino and Don Shula of the Miami Dolphins for the most victories by a quarterback-coach duo in the Super Bowl era.

Marino and Shula combined for 116 wins from 1983 to 1995. Brady and Belichick have been winning games together since 2000.

The most wins by a quarterback-coach combination (since 1966), according to the NFL:

QUARTERBACK, COACH, TEAM, YEARS, WINS Dan Marino, Don Shula, Miami, 1983-95, 116 Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, New England, 2000-, 115 Terry Bradshaw, Chuck Noll, Pittsburgh, 1970-83, 107 Jim Kelly, Marv Levy, Buffalo, 1986-96, 99 Donovan McNabb, Andy Reid, Philadelphia, 1999-2009, 92

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