Suddenly, the Dallas Cowboys look like championship contenders again.
For all the positive vibes re-created during the last few weeks, though, there is the blunt and sobering reality: If the postseason started now, the team that went into the season as a Super Bowl favorite and started 3-0 wouldn’t make the playoffs.
So the month of December has basically become for Dallas (8-4) a series of playoff games just to remain in contention for the real thing.
“Yeah, it is,” tight end Jason Witten said. “We know the challenges that are here and what we have to do. I think this team understands that. We have got to play well, and it’s not going to be easy.”
If the Cowboys survive the final quarter of the regular season for the right to play in January, they’ll have earned it.
The closing stretch begins Sunday at the AFC North-leading Pittsburgh Steelers, followed by home games against the NFC East-leading New York Giants and the Baltimore Ravens before finishing at the division rival Philadelphia Eagles.
Each opponent has a winning record, and they are a combined 34-13-1 (.719). Pittsburgh, New York and Baltimore have the NFL’s top three defenses; Philadelphia is seventh.
“This stretch of the season is going to answer a lot of questions about who we are as a team,” defensive end Marcus Spears said.
It also will determine if the 2008 Cowboys are remembered as over-hyped flops or if they can become this season’s Giants by making the playoffs and getting to the Super Bowl as a wild-card team.
To avoid being the flop, Dallas has to avoid another dismal December.
The Cowboys are 17-28 in December games the past 11 seasons, dating to their last playoff victory. Add in regular season games played in January, and their post-November record is 18-31. That drops to 18-36 when an 0-5 playoff mark is included.
Dallas’ only winning December in that span was 2001, but the Cowboys were 2-8 going into that month.
Entering last December, the Cowboys had clinched a playoff spot with an 11-1 record, the best start in franchise history. A 2-2 mark after that was good enough for the NFC’s top playoff seed before Dallas lost at home to the Giants.
A break-even December and 10 wins that would result may not be enough to get in the playoffs this time.
“It’s going to be tougher,” coach Wade Phillips said. “Everybody knows that. Everybody can see that.”
The Cowboys have better records than two division leaders; Minnesota and Arizona are 7-5. But they trail New York by three games in the NFC East, already with a decisive loss to the Giants in the last game Romo missed because of the broken pinkie on his throwing hand.
The Carolina Panthers (9-3), who play the NFC South rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-3) this week, and the Atlanta Falcons (8-4) hold the two wild-card spots at this point. The Falcons have the tiebreaker over Dallas because of their conference record.
Atlanta also has to play Tampa Bay, Carolina goes to New York, and both wild-card leaders have to play on the road against the desperate New Orleans Saints (6-6). So a lot can change each week.
“We control what we do,” Phillips said. “Somebody’s got to lose. As long as we win, we’re fine.”
With Romo back, there certainly is a better chance of doing that. Dallas went through a 2-4 midseason slump, the last half of that the 1-2 stretch without Romo in which the Cowboys didn’t score more than 14 points in a game.
“This year, October was terrible,” Spears said. “We haven’t struggled in the early months (in the past) as opposed to getting into this month. It may be a reverse situation.”
Romo got back in time for a much-needed 14-10 victory at Washington (7-5) to earn a season split against the Redskins.
Still wearing a protective splint over his right pinkie, Romo has since had his best two passing games of the season - 341 yards and three touchdowns against the San Francisco 49ers, then 331 yards and three more TDs against the Seattle Seahawks.
After Brad Johnson and Brooks Bollinger were sacked 10 times during the three games they filled in, Romo has been sacked only once in the three-game winning streak.
“His leadership, the urgency, the tempo he brings, he just makes plays,” Witten said. “He’s done a great job of leading this team in the way he’s played.”
And getting the ball to Witten (nine catches for 115 yards against Seattle) and Terrell Owens. After only 12 catches for 99 yards in three games without Romo, T.O. is coming off his top two games, his Cowboys-best 213 receiving yards against the 49ers and 98 last week.
Ware took over the NFL sacks lead (15) with three in less than three quarters against Seattle before hyper-extending his left knee. Ware likely will play this week, along with running back Marion Barber (dislocated right pinkie toe) and cornerback Adam Jones, returning from a six-game NFL suspension.
“We’re a lot better than where we were four weeks ago,” linebacker Zach Thomas said. “We put ourselves in this situation, but I think it’s going to make us better.”
They have to be - or it will be a wasted season.
