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Gosselin: Cowboys determined to live in the now, won't be content to wait on suspended stars

OXNARD, Calif. -- Rolando McClain?

Not here. The Cowboys don't want to talk about him.

Randy Gregory?

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Not here. The Cowboys don't want to talk about him.

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And that's out of character for the Cowboys as they open training camp.

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McClain and Gregory projected as impact players in a defensive front seven that's in dire need of impact players. But McClain will miss 10 games and Gregory four with NFL suspensions. Gregory now faces an even longer suspension with yet another failed drug test. Neither player checked in at training camp Thursday and both were placed on the reserve-did not report list.

In the past, Jerry Jones would always look ahead to the day when McClain and Gregory would be eligible to play and could help the Cowboys with their immense talents. Jones always wanted to envision how good his team could be with players of that caliber -- not the reality of a situation without them.

No longer.

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"We're not going to live in the, 'He's going to come back next week...' or 'He's going to come back next month...' world," conceded Jones at the camp-opening news conference Friday. "I lived in that world. We got a doctor's degree in it. We went to Harvard Business School over it. I'm the guiltiest of it.

"But we're not going to live in that world any more. We've tried and it doesn't work. You don't win but four games in the NFL doing that. So we're not going there. We're going to live with what we got."

The Cowboys learned more than humility during a 4-12 collapse last year that sent them spiraling to the bottom of the NFC East. They learned the immediacy of the NFL. The opposition is not going to wait for Tony Romo or Dez Bryant to get healthy. So you'd better find a way to win without them.

The Cowboys lost Bryant in the 2015 season opener with a broken foot but knew he'd be back by mid-October. There was no panic. Just stay afloat in a soft NFC East until he could be reunited with Romo. But Romo suffered a broken collarbone the next week that sidelined him for seven weeks. Again, there was no panic. Just stay afloat until he could be reunited with Bryant.

But the Cowboys didn't stay afloat. By the time Romo returned, the Cowboys were 2-7. Two games later, he was done for the season with a reinjured collarbone. The Cowboys went 1-5 without Bryant and 1-11 without Romo. They lacked resilience in 2015. They did not find ways to win without two of their best players. That had to change, and it's starting this summer with the philosophical shift by the club brass that spoke to the media Friday: Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones and coach Jason Garrett.

If a player is out of sight, he's now out of mind.

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"We're going to focus on the good people that can be on the field and make plays for us," Stephen Jones said.

That's why both Stephen and Jerry Jones were curt in discussing McClain and Gregory. When asked about McClain, who will serve his second suspension in two seasons, Stephen Jones responded, "He's not here and we'll move on."

If they are not part of the current solution, they are no longer part of the current equation. That's a welcome change. Don't count on players you can't count on.

And the club owner, minus his rose-colored glasses, seems finally at peace with that.

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"I'm excited about where we're at today," Jerry Jones said. "We've got several challenges. We know where those are but they are far overshadowed by the positives of our returning players that we didn't have last year. I had visions of sugar plums seeing No. 9 [Romo] roll out there. No. 88 [Bryant], No. 32 [Orlando Scandrick], No. 25 [Lance Dunbar] -- we didn't have these guys last year.

"We are not going to let a few setbacks, a few notable setbacks, deter the fact we are fortunate that we have many assets, and we're going to put them on the playing field and win ball games with them."

Make no mistake about it, the Cowboys could certainly use Gregory and McClain. This is a defense that lacks plays and playmakers. When you finish last with a league-record low 11 takeaways and 25th in sacks as the Cowboys did a year ago, you can use all the help you can find on defense. The Cowboys will certainly miss Gregory's pass rush and McClain's run defense.

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But the Cowboys have decided not to be held hostage by their absences as they were a year ago by Bryant and Romo's absences. It will be up to the defensive staff to develop replacements this summer and for those young players to seize the opportunities.

Football is a sport that waits on no one. For a change, neither are the Cowboys.

"We're excited about the guys we have on our football team," Garrett said.

Listen to Rick Gosselin at 10:50 a.m. Tuesdays on Sportsradio 1310 AM/96.7 FM The Ticket with Norm Hitzges and Donovan Lewis.

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Twitter: @RickGosselinDMN