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[HMFFL]

Enjoy this week, your fried turkey, your gigantic serving of pumpkin pie, your NFC West patsy at Texas Stadium.

Because after a Thanksgiving date with Seattle, it’s on for the ’Boys.

I hope this doesn’t come as a shock to anybody. December always was going to determine how we judged this team — contenders or frauds, from Coach Wade to T.O., no exceptions.

Now, however, thanks to hiccups and a certain Rams loss, a good December is needed simply to guarantee a playoff berth. And anything less is still a gigantic failure.

"It would really kill me on a personal basis, and every fan just as much, if we have this team, this makeup of this team, and don’t get in the playoffs," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "It would be one of the big disappointments."

Tattoo this on your butt, Coach Wade.

Preach this in meetings. Hang a sign in your locker room. Repeat ad nauseam.

December choke-age — equals Disappointed Jerry — equals Fire everybody.

I asked linebacker Greg Ellis if players commiserated with Owner Jones’ frustration, figuring he has been around forever, seen plenty of December folds and has a good feel for everything Cowboy.

"I’m going to put it to you this way; I like what I’m smelling from this team. All right? I really do," he said. "I haven’t told anybody this. You guys are the first guys I told this to. You can put that in big, bold print. You can use those words. I like what I am smelling from this team."

Said he feels better than he did about this team a year ago.

Whoa, wait, what? Better than a year ago when Coach Wade walked into December with 11 wins and harsh rebukes for anybody hinting at problems? And this sudden confidence from a guy who a couple of weeks ago voiced disappointment in all things Cowboy?

What is going on?

"Well, you guys know. You put that in bold letters when Greg said he was disappointed in the team ... and I didn’t like what was going on then," Ellis said. "But right now, with most of the things, it’s a good vibe. Guys stepped up. Like I said, it wasn’t the lip-service step up. It was like, 'I’m going to do my job.’ That’s the kind of stuff it takes to be where you want to be."

He is right. Injuries and adversity forced Cowboy players to go searching for, how shall I say, lower heart pretty early. And in a first under Coach Wade, they onioned up. They have been really good since a couple of weeks ago when they were almost really done.

Now December, an annual disappointment for your Cowboys, at least recently, looms again starting in Pittsburgh on Dec. 7.

Then against the Giants.

Then against a fierce Baltimore defense. And then at Philly, where thoughts of ruining this Cowboys season may motivate them to a final hurrah for McNabb and Andy Reid before Eagles types blow what has turned into a hot mess-up.

This coming month is brutal, especially for a core group of Cowboys hauling around residual December doubt.

"We haven’t been great the last couple of Decembers," cornerback Terence Newman admitted. "The thing we have to do is we have to make sure is what we did at the end of November definitely picks up in December and we can win these games and get this past December record off our back and off you guys’ mind so we don’t have to talk about it anymore."

If it smells like honesty and accountability, it is probably because it is. Ellis is not the only one smelling change. It was impossible not to notice on Monday.

About the only one downplaying December at Valley Ranch was Coach Wade with his nonsense of Seattle being the biggest game of the year, his only focus, blah, blah, blah.

The man who loves himself a favorable stat actually argued the Cowboys’ sorry December records were nothing but "baseball stats," like going on four seasons of failing to finish strong and win a playoff game is a made-up criticism.

Decembers have stunk around here. And with injuries to key players piling up, Pacman and his train-wreck element returning and a nasty schedule awaiting, this is no time to ignore history and pretend everything has been fine.

It is time to define themselves, with a strong finish.

"This is a whole new December and, compared to last year, we have haven’t done well early in the season," Newman said. "Maybe it will be a complete switch and we’ll turn the tables and run the whole next [five] games and make the playoffs, win that too, and the Super Bowl and everybody will love us."

So enjoy this last week of November, with Thanksgiving and NFC West goodness. Because after Thursday, it’s on for the Cowboys.

If Ellis’ nose is right, it has a chance to be good.

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