The Cowboys are still in with a shot at the NFC East, with Brian Schottenheimer's culture shift being front and center.
FRISCO - How do you define "culture''?
For some, it is the foundation and the glue that holds everything about a football team together.
For others, it's just a fake-deep word that is floated around at certain times of an NFL season when things are going well or when things are going poorly.
I've long contended - maybe with too much skepticism, I admit - that "culture'' is an undefinable thing, that it's like trying to grab a fistful of smoke, and that in a chicken-or-the-egg argument, it often is the result of winning ...
And not the other way around.
When it comes to the Dallas Cowboys, many observers believe that what coach Brian Schottenheimer has done in navigating this team though the events of this year is proof there is a positive shift in this area.
Conversely, when Cowboys lovers are looking at the Philadelphia Eagles, it appears that Dallas' rivals are falling apart at the seams, with three straight losses and an inflatable Easter Bunny in the locker room designed to being "positive vibes.''
Talk about trying to grab a fistful of smoke!
As we approach the final month of the season, we are at a time when locker rooms can galvanize or fracture. It is a matter of historical fact that team members (coaches and players) in losing programs right about now either start getting with their wives and planning their February vacations or start getting with their agents to start planning their next job move.
The 6-6-1 Cowboys remain in the playoff hunt, so their planning is still about football ...
And, to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, still about the Schotty-led culture.
"Yes, it's very legitimate, and unfortunately, we've had really touch points of things that bring people together in this case, our team, and certainly we've had that this year,” Jerry said on 105.3 The Fan. “We've really, in my mind, have come together as a team.
"That's such a fine line out there between these teams and the emotional aspect of the thing, or if you get on a roll, that's real, and it comes down so close, especially at this time of the year.”
Jerry's quote truly addresses the gray-area issue here. "A fine line.'' "Getting on a roll.'' "The emotional aspect.''
The Cowboys are still dealing with Marshawn Kneeland's passing. They actually, on the whole, dealt with the three-game gauntlet almost well enough, beating the Eagles and the Chiefs before deflating in last week's loss at Detroit.
Schottenheimer's "culture'' - which if you remember back to his very first press conference was to him pretty much Job 1 around here - will now be tested, because Dallas could be favored in each of these final four games. (Our optimistic Cowboys schedule prediction is here.)
If "culture'' is so real ... if "culture'' is so powerful ...
Dallas should win out.
We do know this (and Dak Prescott deserves a great deal of team-leadership credit here): Unlike as is the case with the Eagles, there doesn't appear to be any division or even negativity spreading throughout the locker room.
The Cowboys proudly claim that it's a "brotherhood" here inside The Star. ... and who are we to argue?
But ...
Does "brotherhood'' lead to wins?
Because frankly, warmth and kinship are lovely. But if your great "culture'' leaves you with a subpar position in the NFL standings, what good is it?