The Dallas Cowboys were hoping their December woes were over. The past few seasons, the team has met their downfall in the final month of the NFL season and as they remain in the hunt for the playoffs, December success is crucial. After a loss to the Chicago Bears to kick off the winter month, Tony Romo understands the position the team is in.
"We've got to win out," Romo said, via ESPNDallas.com. "That's our approach. We need to do that. I think we have that mindset. I think we've had that. Really, a couple of weeks ago, we felt like we needed to win. We did that, so it's going right back into it."
Romo is right. The Cowboys are 7-6 and currently sitting a game behind the Philadelphia Eagles. However, Dallas defeated the team earlier this season, meaning they control their own destiny moving forward. The only way they make the postseason is by winning every game from now until the end of the regular season. The past two seasons, they missed the playoffs by losing the final game of the season. Everyone is insisting that cannot happen this year.
"We just feel like we don't want any margin of error. We want to win out and control our own destiny. That's just the bottom line," DeMarcus Ware said.
The Cowboys will finish their season against the Eagles. They face the Packers at home. If Aaron Rodgers is active, that game could be risky. They face the Washington Redskins on the road and then host the Eagles. Philadelphia currently has a five-game win streak going on and face the struggling Vikings and Chicago Bears before seeing Dallas. A wildcard birth is not an option for Dallas. Owner Jerry Jones is hoping the team is not losing focus with the important games ahead.
"If we can't lose a division game, we can't have another loss that Green Bay would give us, then it looks like we've got to just carry it on out," Jones said, referring to winning the final three games of the regular season. But that seems a little empty right this minute, right after we've just seen us have the inability to get a stop out here. That's very frustrating. I can almost say it's understandable, but that doesn't make it acceptable."
The trust is, it is December and anything can happen with the Cowboys. Romo is trying to focus less on the month and more so on the playoff implications.
"You've got to be able to find a way to win those games," Romo said. "That is just part of a football team growing and getting good enough to go win in tough environments. I think our football is continuing to grow and having a great chance to do that."