FRISCO, Texas -- The Cowboys might be out of the spotlight, but they are very much at work.
Sunday felt a bit strange. Three days after the Cowboys' embarrassing Thanksgiving loss to Buffalo, the NFL rolled on to the rest of its Week 13 slate. But while the Cowboys might not be the league's focal point right now, the grind goes on.
"We need to start to get this going now," said Ezekiel Elliott on Sunday afternoon. "Not many games left. It's really crunch time now. We've got to win some ballgames."
Sunday felt a bit strange. Three days after the Cowboys' embarrassing Thanksgiving loss to Buffalo, the NFL rolled on to the rest of its Week 13 slate. But while the Cowboys might not be the league's focal point right now, the grind goes on.
"We need to start to get this going now," said Ezekiel Elliott on Sunday afternoon. "Not many games left. It's really crunch time now. We've got to win some ballgames."
Elliott held court with reporters on Sunday, which was technically a Wednesday, as far as the Cowboys are concerned. Considering his comments after the Bills game that the Cowboys are "pissed off," it's no surprise that there's a sense of urgency -- and no surprise that it carried over into their weekend practice.
"Practice was good, great energy," Elliott said. "Guys were on their stuff. Guys had a little stuff in their neck. It was a little chippy. Ready to go."
To paraphrase Travis Frederick, some attitude is expected when professional athletes are going all-out against each other. It goes with the territory in football. But there's no denying that a 6-6 record doesn't help matters, either.
"Guys are definitely frustrated," said Zack Martin. "We know what we have in this locker room -- we're not getting it done and being where we're at."
Martin was sure to point out that the Cowboys have the capacity to change that. At 6-6, the Cowboys still sit on top of the NFC East. Thanks to another loss by Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon, they still look like favorites to host a playoff game.
Given what all has happened to this point, that's not a terrible place to be.
"That's the thing about it is, we're still in control of our own destiny and it's up to us to block out the noise and come in this week and get it done," Martin said.
Judging from the start to their week, that sounds like the goal heading into Chicago.
