When George Allen ran the , he had a motto on each of the desks at the office:"Is what you're doing now going to help us beat the ?"The only problem, according to one of the people who worked there at the time, is managing the ups and downs depending on how those two games against Dallas went each season.So Charley Ca serly, that Washington employee who remembers Allen's focus on two games per year, is not surprised that Todd Bowles has taken an entirely different tact in New York, e sentially flat-lining the run-up to the ' first game this season. Bowles, after all, played for Joe Gibbs, one of Allen's succe sors in Washington who never agreed with the single-minded focus on one opponent, even one as familiar and potentially ruinous as the were to the ."Everybody in the building knows what the are to the ," Ca serly said this week. "You can't play a two-game season. Whether he took that from Joe or figured it out for himself, that's the way you need to approach it."He's not intimidated by anything. He can talk to a player man to man, tell him what he thinks. He will not demean the player, but he is in no way intimidated by anybody. That's what you don't nece sarily get if you don't get to know him. He's not a guy who talks for the sake of talking."The quiet compared to the storm Rex Ryan used to create in preparation for the -- Ryan didn't ki s Bill Belichick's rings, but -- is also of a piece with the measured maturity Bowles has brought to the in his first season. It is not just Bowles' brilliance as a defensive strategist that has turned the so rapidly from a four-win team last season to one that has four wins in its first five games this season. (The have the league's top defense and , and it is allowing opponents to score on just 18 percent of their po se sions -- the best in the league -- setting up a perfect matchup against the game's .)But Bowles has already steered the through a crucible far more fraught with danger than anything even the can present. In early August, when starting quarterback was punched by a teammate, , Smith presented the news in a blunt news conference, in which he also condemned the childishne s of the i sue that led to the fight and made clear that Smith might not regain his job. The event had "same old " written all over it -- until it disappeared because of the way Bowles put the fire out before it could spread. He instructed players to stop discu sing it. And, after making his displeasure known when Smith was spotted to repair his jaw, Bowles has stopped discu sing it, too.With his matter-of-factne s -- "You don't get up or down for one game because it means you haven't been playing hard in the first place," the coach said -- Bowles has steadied a team that was used to the emotional peaks and valleys that accompany a coach like Ryan."I don't know whether they take on my personality or whether some of them are scared to backlash," Bowles said this week. "It's kind of a little of both, so I think they're starting to understand what it takes to try and win. We're trying to win ball games. We're not trying to win one ball game. We're trying to win them all. We never get too high or too low. We know it's a long season, a long proce s with injuries and everything else. I think we're starting to realize that."Bowles has a temper, say those who know him. But while he may display it to players, he does not show it in public. It is Dwight Howard Jersey part of what made him ."As a player, what you see is what you get now," said Ca serly, who advised the on the search proce s that led to Bowles. "Very calm. Very smart. The smartest guy on the field. He can use just a few words to paint a picture. That was one of the things when we were looking at him. Tell me how you're going to defense this team. And he can give you three sentences."Ca serly tells stories about Bowles' development as a coach. Ca serly watched him command a room of college coaches just a year ago, and had heard stories about how Bowles took control of practices when he was the interim head coach there in 2011, giving the players an immediate vision of the style of play he was looking for by telling them specifically how often he intended to pa s the ball.Bowles' plans have worked out well so far, although is more than capable of quickly changing a narrative. The quarterback is 6-0 in his career when facing the top scoring and total defense this late in the season, with 13 touchdowns and five interceptions.Still, from those who have known Bowles through his rise up the coaching ladder, there is confidence that the Bowles the have seen so far is the coach they will see in any situation."I worked with a couple of coaches, and you could tell early on, you really had a feeling for the ... this guy is a leader of men," said Jason Taylor, the defensive end who was coached by Bowles in Miami. "Dan Quinn was one of those guys. Todd Bowles is another. I'm 41, but if Todd called tomorrow, I would go play for him."Three more things to watch around the NFL in Week 7:1) The are starting their -- --and are not likely to have receiver back. They are 0-3 since got hurt in Week 2, and Ca sel has, since 2011, been one of the least effective pa sers in the league. Still, the could emerge in first place in . The botched their late-game clock management , but the presence of makes the Dallas defense more menacing now than it was then -- the sacked five times . The ' offensive line had its worst outing and protecting from pre sure on the edges will be critical to allow the short pa ses that were so effective early against Philadelphia.2) This is probably not the week to expect the offense to get itself together. The are allowing an opponent pa ser rating of just 68.8, , 18.8 points per game and have 11 takeaways. The offense and are the weakne s of the , and Bradford . While the offense, particularly the running game, has been much better the last two weeks, Philly will have to get off to a much faster start. They have a minus-16 point differential in the first quarter, 29th in the league. The ' defense is the team's strength and it is especially effective against tight ends, allowing just two touchdowns to TEs in their last 22 games. The ' has three touchdowns in his last three games.3) The ' lingered all the way to Wednesday, but the real question is whether they'll have a hangover from . Except for that play, the mostly played better than expected against New England, and they seem to have learned from that the short, quick pa sing game is the best way to insulate from pre sure and perhaps reduce his turnovers. Luck has but he was much better against the , completing 60 percent of his pa ses for three touchdowns and no interceptions. The ' defense is giving up more than 400 yards per game, , and the have given up at least 400 yards in each of their last four games. This, then, has the makings of a Luck- shootout -- with a lo s by the likely ending their already slim postseason hopes and a lo s by the raising significant concerns about their ability to beat the better teams with top quarterbacks on their schedule.Follow Judy Battista on Twitter . Marc Gasol Jersey