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IRVING – Sometimes the short, simple answers are the best.

Wade Phillips was asked about how the Cowboys are staring at an 8-4 record with upcoming games against San Francisco and Seattle. Between them, they have won five games, or one less than the Cowboys.

"St. Louis," Phillips said.

Phillips didn't need to explain the answer.

Even without Tony Romo, the thought was the Cowboys would roll through the one-win (at the time) Rams, and as we know, that didn't happen. The Cowboys are in no position to look past any team, let alone two.

"We're not out of the hole," tight end Jason Witten said. "We're still fighting for our lives here. That's where we stand. We created a little bit of a hole. By no means can we be complacent. We've got a tough road ahead. I think everybody understands that. The thing [beating Washington] does is give us a little bit of confidence."

In preparing for the Redskins last week, the players and coaches talked about seeing a sense of urgency, a resolve, up-tempo practices with a purpose. The result was a grind-it-out NFC East win on the road, a must-win if there ever was one.

"Everybody said there was an urgency and an importance to this game and it's got to be the same way this week," Phillips said. "I've got to get them to feel like this is the most important game, and it is because the last game is over."

This game being San Francisco. And Phillips is right. For all of the good the Cowboys did at FedEx Field, it would be wiped out by a loss to the 3-7 Niners.

San Francisco is not the San Francisco of old or even the early 2000s, but it has shown some fight since changing coaches to Mike Singletary. Frank Gore is one of the most dangerous runners in the league and leads the team in catches, too. Patrick Willis is one of the best young linebackers in the league. The 49ers have solid corners in Nate Clements and Walt Harris. New quarterback Shaun Hill has been sacked only four times in three starts. They took Arizona to the wire on the road two weeks ago – and should've won if not for some questionable clock management. And they put up 35 points in the first half last week ... against St. Louis.

"I think we started to gain an understanding of what you need to do to win football games," quarterback Tony Romo said. "Nothing is handed to you in this league. You have to go out and earn it, and we had to earn this victory last week. I was proud of the guys for their effort, the time and the commitment they put in through the week to win that football game. And they did it. And I see the same thing happening this week. The sense of urgency is there again."

But what do they see? What does it really mean?

Is it a matter of running from drill to drill in practice? Is it staying late and doing more film work?

"It's the focus and the mistakes they don't make," Phillips said. "Just being sloppy with some things that you don't need to be sloppy with. They're still going to make mistakes because it's early in the week on some things, but it's how you make mistakes, I guess."