ShareThisDesperation can reveal an untapped desire and shake out the doldrums.
It's a wake-up call no alarm clock can imitate.
Lose the season opener on the road against a rival. That's all right because the Bears were coming to our house the next week.
But the prospects of a crippling 0-3 start sent a jolt of energy through the Dallas Cowboys.
They knew their season was on the line. The fans knew it, and you can bet the Texans were well aware of the situation that had impending doom written all over it.
Sunday's game was going to tell everyone in the NFL how good the Dallas Cowboys really were. A loss would classify them as an NFC pretender.
Against a surging Texans franchise on the road, they played the way everyone thought they were capable of in a 27-13 victory.
A beleaguered defense finally realized forcing turnovers was desirable, and DeMarcus Ware hassled Houston quarterback Matt Schaub and disrupted the Texans' precise passing game.
Dallas' offensive line didn't surrender a sack, either. Doug Free deserves a ton of credit for keeping Mario Williams (who had four sacks in the Texans' first two games) out of QB Tony Romo's hair.
And say what you will about wide receiver Roy Williams, but he played a heck of a game. It's apparent that his timing with Romo has improved from the 2009 season.
At certain moments, the game featured a feistiness that isn't always seen at the NFL level. That stemmed from the Cowboys' pent-up aggression that built up all week long.
Let's hope the Cowboys continue to play with that desperation for the remainder of the season. Why wouldn't they?
Because the NFC East is not looking like the powerhouse it has been in recent years. In fact, one could make the argument that it isn't one of the top two divisions in the NFC right now.
The Redskins (1-2) stumbled on the road against the lowly St. Louis Rams. The Giants (1-2) got creamed at home by Tennessee.
Only the Eagles own a winning record right now, and the teams they defeated -- the Lions and Jaguars -- don't exactly strike fear into a playoff contender's heart.
So while the East is a winnable division, if no one runs away from the field, the Cowboys won't feel the must-win pressure every Sunday that they felt in Houston.
Dallas isn't good enough to expect the type of performance that was shown in Sunday's 27-13 victory on a weekly basis.
But the Cowboys are a better team than what they showed those first two games against the Redskins and Bears.
And they can head into the bye week knowing as much.
(Zach Duncan writes for the Wichita Falls Times Record News in Texas.)
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