Orchard Park, N.Y. ? Go ahead and laugh. Safety Donte Whitner’s heard them all, including the jab about how the Bills’ defense will serve as a “punching bag,” as one national radio broadcaster put it, for the Dallas Cowboys tonight.

“It’s funny to me hearing things like that. It really doesn’t bother me,” said the second-year player and one of the few healthy starters left in Buffalo’s defensive backfield. “If they’re so sure that (Dallas) was going to win, then we wouldn’t have to play the game.”

The game, though, will be played, and Whitner vows Buffalo’s defense will show up.

“We really want to go out and win this football game and prove that we’re not just some punching bag,” he said.

It won’t be easy, and even Whitner will acknowledge that, because the Tony Romo and T.O. show has made defenses – from New York to Chicago to Miami – look silly this season.

The Cowboys (4-0) have scored 34 or more points in each game, and their league-leading 151 points overall are fourth most by any team after four games since 1970.

Dallas coach Wade Phillips quickly discounts the talk about a potential Cowboys blowout.

“They hear this is a trap game, they hear all those things,” said Phillips, who makes his first trip to Buffalo as a head coach since being fired by the Bills after the 2000 season. “They’re grown men. They should know that. I told them that. They’ve told each other. They’re saying the right things, so I believe they believe it.”

With a win, the Cowboys would open 5-0 for the first time since 1983.

The Bills (1-3) are 10-point underdogs and will field a young and severely depleted defense that already has three starters on injured reserve.