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FRISCO, Texas – And now starts the gauntlet the NFL has laid down for the ��ݮ��Ƶ������� to march through.

Five games all in a row, a stretch that could, no, wait, more probably will decide the direction of this 2024 season for the Cowboys. Starting Sunday night in Santa Clara, Calif., when the 3-3, third-place-in-the-East Cowboys take on the 3-4, second-place-in-the-West San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium.

Check this out. Here is what is coming.

At San Francisco (3-4).

At Atlanta (4-3).

Philadelphia (4-2).

Houston (5-2).

At Washington (5-2).

Go ahead, add it up. The teams in this stretch are a combined 21-13, four of the five teams with winning records, the irony being San Francisco the only one with a losing record. Who would have thunk it? Who would have predicted three of these teams either in or tied for first place in their divisions and the other two in second place?

With regards to the New York Yankees back in the World Series, this is some kind of Murders' Row.

But this is the bed the Cowboys must lie in thanks to winning the NFC East last year. They ended up with a tougher first place schedule and now continue to pay for not profiting from the 2023 season's 12-5 record and No. 2 seeding in the NFC during the playoffs. That loss to Green Bay still haunts them.

And with the goblins coming out next week, the magnitude of that 48-32 loss to Green Bay also magnifies two of their three losses suffered this year, losing to New Orleans, 44-19, and then this past game heading into the bye, 47-9, to Detroit. Geesh, at home no less.

Worse, no matter this is a new year, new team, a bevy of new, young, inexperienced players, these results are being defined as an ugly trend, sending fans in an uproar and media picking at the Cowboys' souls.

Can't run the ball, ranking 32^nd.

Can't stop the run, ranking 27^th.

Can't score touchdowns, only four teams with fewer than their 11, meaning not even two a game so far.

Red zone problems, so, too, turnover differential.

Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb not in concert.

On and on and on, to the point of The Star tours that have been going on since just after the Cowboys moved into this facility out here when trying to create their own version of a team's hall of fame, are being blamed in a national b.s. story for creating too much of a distraction for the players, uh, the ones having gone 36-15 the past three regular seasons while winning the NFC East two of those three years.

You'd think the perception of this 3-3 record with still 11 games to play was more like 1-5, with the Cowboys trying to become the first team in the NFC East to repeat as champs since the Eagles did so four in consecutive seasons from 2001-04. Remember when the Cowboys back in the franchise's infancy couldn't win the big one, being labeled as "Next Year's Champions"? Well, for teams winning the NFC East from 2005 on – the Cowboys have done so seven times, more than any other team, Philadelphia with six titles, then the Giants and Washington three each – maybe winning the East has turned into "Next Year's Curse."

So heading into Sunday night's nationally televised game, this one, for sure when the schedule first came out, was circled as the pinnacle game of the season between two of the presumed NFC heavyweights. Especially for the Cowboys since they had lost the previous three games to the Niners, two of those in the playoffs and last year's regular season one, 42-10. Obviously, the national TV folks thought so too.

But now the tables have turned for both teams, the Cowboys .500 and the Niners below .500, having lost two of their first three, just as the Cowboys. And both teams are suffering dearly from injuries, the Cowboys playing without their top four defensive ends since Micah Parsons has been ruled out Sunday for the third consecutive game – so, too, cornerback DaRon Bland, still not ready to come off IR – and there is a good chance the Niners still will be without running back Christian McCaffrey (IR) as well as their top three receivers if Deebo Samuel can't return in time from a hospitalized case of pneumonia.

So instead of this game creating blaring bugles, it's now somewhat of a season survival warning. And by no means is this meant to mean the loser with 10 games still to play can't recover in time to become a playoff team, but a loss sure would be a bad omen.

Thus, this week Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy was asked with all the seemingly negativity circling as if buzzards overhead, "You're 3-3 and not really functioning well in any area, how would you describe or characterize your team's focus and intensity and sense of belief they can still accomplish their goals?"

And he took exception to that premise.

"I think we're a team that's growing, you know, and I think that's where we were coming out of training camp," McCarthy said. "You could see it in Oxnard. We did a lot of good things, but our inexperience, whether it's a young player or a new veteran that's just arrived, you got to keep working to put those things together. The belief, the energy and all that, trust me, what goes on outside the locker room is not an illustration of what's going on in the locker room. … That's not a clear picture of our football team.

"We won three games on the road and we're getting ready to win our fourth, that's our mindset, that's the way we look at this. … All these things about what we're not doing right is not an illustration of our football team and does not reflect the confidence and belief we have."

So here they go, despite all their injuries, although at least middle linebacker Eric Kendricks, who missed the Detroit game with a shoulder injury, is being listed as questionable and seems to have a good chance of playing. And appears kicker Brandon Aubrey will be off from jury duty over the weekend.

Now the Cowboys have to figure out how to stop the Niners from running the ball, averaging 149.9 rushing yards a game. And when Kyle Shanahan looks at the Cowboys defense against the run, having given up in their three loses 190 yards, 274 and 184, count on him saddling up Jordan Mason, he of 667 yards rushing, second in the NFL to only Derrick Henry.

The Cowboys also have to figure out how to run the ball more effectively themselves, ranked 32nd in rushing offense. And don't care if it's Rico Dowdle with the ball, Ezekiel Elliot or potentially for the first time this season Dalvin Cook, McCarthy saying, "Dalvin's ready. Really like the work he's put in. He's in position to do that," meaning get some snaps if elevated off the practice squad.

But to accomplish either of these facets of the game, as McCarthy said, "You got to own the line of scrimmage," and that's exactly where this game will be decided. So time to put their big-boy pants on, and not get bullied as the 49ers have done so in winning these past three games.

And that means right from the start of warmups, when San Francisco has been known to jack with teams, or be prepared for the Niners to try getting away with throwing punches in the game. Better walk out there with confidence and realize that when it comes to desperation, the Niners at 3-4, knowing another loss drops them to 3-5, will be playing as if a dehydrated man in search of water in the desert.

Yep, here the Cowboys go, the start of this five-game stretch, trying to keep their heads above .500, trying to give themselves a chance once these missing players return from injury to the scripted team when training camp began. Get back Micah and DeMarcus Lawrence and Brandin Cooks and Marshawn Kneeland and Bland.

As owner Jerry Jones said, "Listen, we're 3-3, and we all saw it, and we know how we ended up beating Cleveland. We know what we didn't do against New Orleans. We know what we did do against Pittsburgh. You can take all of that. (But) all that counts is what we're doing out here in San Francisco and the games after that.

"Can we be a better team? Can we, let's say, have better field position in the overall schemes? I'm not talking about really being out on the field, but can we get ourselves where we don't have some things happen to us, like happened to us the other day, and we get run out of the stadium?

"Yes, we can. Of course we can."

Now, just do it.