National Football League

Cowboys will have chances to recover in NFC East

Published Nov. 2, 2011 10:46 p.m. ET

foxsports

There will be plenty of chances for the Dallas Cowboys to recover in the NFC East.

Forget about how bad that last game was and their losing record.

The Cowboys (3-4) are just now reaching the midpoint of their schedule at home against Seattle. They are in a three-way scrum for second place in the NFC East with Washington and Philadelphia, the team that just beat them 34-7.

Dallas still has a game left with each, and plays the division-leading New York Giants (5-2) twice in the final month of the regular season.

''If we do what we have to do, everything will take care of itself,'' safety Abram Elam said Wednesday. ''We're only as good as our next game. If we don't handle our business this Sunday against Seattle, it puts us even further in the hole. All we can do is control what we have in front of us.''

That begins Sunday against the Seahawks (2-5), the first of five games Dallas has before facing the Giants for the first time at home Dec. 11.

In that five-game span, Dallas plays AFC East co-leader Buffalo (5-2) and four teams with a combined record of 6-22.

The Cowboys play the Bills at home before going to Washington, which lost 18-16 in Dallas back in September. Their Thanksgiving Day game at home is against Miami (0-7) before a trip to Arizona (1-6).

''We don't look ahead too much, we certainly feel like we just have to control our own business,'' coach Jason Garrett said. ''Again, we live in the day of practicing well on Wednesday, and then hopefully coming back and practicing well on Thursday. Certainly our entire focus is doing our best to get ourselves ready to play Seattle.''

Second-year linebacker Sean Lee, the Cowboys' leading tackler with 73, didn't practice Wednesday because of a left wrist injured Sunday night. Garrett described Lee as day to day and refused to rule the linebacker out of Sunday's game.

''We had some evaluations Monday that we feel really good about, and it got us to the point to say we do not have to do surgery Monday afternoon. We're going to evaluate him day to day, week by week, and just see how that thing responds,'' Garrett said. ''Knowing Sean Lee, he's probably a fairly quick healer. ... Trust me, he's chomping at the bit.''

The Cowboys haven't been able to get any kind of consistency going this season.

Since blowing a lead in the fourth quarter to lose the season opener at the New York Jets, they have won consecutive games, lost consecutive games, then followed a 34-7 victory over St. Louis with the 34-7 loss at Philadelphia.

But the season is far from a lost cause because of the mess that is the NFC East.

''Right now everybody's mindset is to make it to the playoffs,'' defensive end Marcus Spears said. ''We're still in position to do everything that we wanted to at the beginning of the season, and we just have to do something about it. We can't talk about it, we have to do something about it.''

Every week, Garrett reinforces to his players to forget what happened in the last game, win or lose. So is that harder to do after a 34-7 victory like two weeks ago, or the 34-7 loss they just had?

''We'll see,'' defensive end Kenyon Coleman said with a hearty laugh.

''At times, I forget what our record is,'' Elam said. ''It's easy for us, because we're on game plan thinking about Seattle, so we've just got to focus on that. ... That (loss) was last week, definitely. The St. Louis game is even further behind.''

The Cowboys have to wait until Christmas Eve for a rematch against Philadelphia, at Cowboys Stadium. They will finish the season on New Year's Day at the Giants.

''Honestly, I think the worst thing you can do is look ahead because you can't do anything about that,'' Coleman said. ''If you don't handle your business week by week then it don't matter what happens in the future.''

Notes: Orlando Scandrick will likely start Sunday in place of cornerback Mike Jenkins, expected to miss three games or more because of a right hamstring problem. ... Pro Bowl punter Mat McBriar is still dealing with a nerve problem in his left foot that he plants when kicking, an injury that kept him from finishing the Philadelphia game. It has been bothering him for a couple of weeks - ''the St. Louis game, I was lucky to get through that,'' he said - though he is trying to get through practice and ready for Seattle. ''We thought we'd be fine getting through the (Philadelphia) game and obviously it didn't work out,'' McBriar said Wednesday. ''It's pain. I know it hasn't improved at all.'' ... McBriar planned to change the brace he wore on his left foot, and said the one he wore in the last game rubbed against the affected nerve and caused more problems. A neurologist told him the foot will eventually get back to normal.