FRISCO, Texas — Wave goodbye to the bye and hello to the next test, which happens to be the bane of the Dallas Cowboys' existence over the past couple of seasons — namely the San Francisco 49ers — and though DeMarvion Overshown wasn't present to suffer the most recent three losses at the hands of Kyle Shanahan, he knows what's at stake in Week 8.
Both teams desperately need the victory, as the Cowboys visit with a 3-3 record to face the 49ers in the wake of Shanahan's bunch falling to 3-4 on the season, and both are currently ravaged by injury.
"We just got to trust our training and trust the brothers that we play with out on the field," said Overshown. "We've got a lot of players down and so do they, but we can't use that excuse [for not] playing good football. We've all been playing this game for a long time and we know our end goal, and that's to go 1-0 every week.
"That's the plan this week too."
It's always a foregone conclusion that the 49ers will play the Cowboys like the fate of the world depends on not allowing Dallas to land a victory, regardless of who is available to play and who isn't; and the Cowboys know this all too well.
The biggest key will be to stop the rushing attack, regardless of who is taking the handoffs from Brock Purdy, seeing as that's been a key failing of the defense that's led to slow defensive starts and, combined with the Cowboys' offensive struggles, often sent them into a tailspin at home.
They've fared slightly better on the road, though not by much, so forcing Purdy into a one-dimensional game could very well turn the odds in the Cowboys' favor on Sunday night.
"It definitely does, and when you've got a defensive coordinator like Coach [Mike] Zimmer, you know he's got the answers to the test," Overshown replied when asked if it's lack of execution fueling the woes. "We've just got to be about our business and we have to hold ourselves accountable to do what he's telling us to do, [but] we're losing sight of that in the game.
"And once we start off slow, we're not picking it back up. We've got to come out there and start off fast — attacking them and not getting attacked."
This weekend's battle will be the 41st time the two organizations have locked horns, the postseason included, the 49ers' three-game win streak giving them the 20-19-1 edge over the Cowboys in the series. Taking a victory in Week 8 would not only even things up for two clubs who are also tied with five Lombardi trophies a piece, but it might also determine the trajectory for both teams heading into the second half of the season.
That is as both feverishly try to be the first of the two to reach a sixth ring.
"We've got to get going," said the former rookie third-round pick. "Those first six weeks — September football, early October football — you're still trying to figure it out. We've seen some ups and we've seen some very lows. So we know this is a good opponent that we're looking forward to, and in a crazy atmosphere.
"They're going to [give] their all, and we've got to do the same thing."
And ... for four full quarters.
