Cowboys Coach Reveals Why Getting 'Battle-Tested' Will Benefit Team

The Dallas Cowboys' form line through the first six weeks has resembled a yo-yo, and as they enter the bye week, a more even level of performance is needed.

With so many things going wrong for Mike McCarthy's team, including a lack of run game, Dak Prescott's turnovers, receivers failing to get separation, the defense's inability to stop the run or pass, plus being bitten hard by the injury bug, there's a lot to fix in the bye week.

But offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer remains upbeat, and believes the team's current trials and tribulations will benefit it in the long run.

"We're getting battle-tested, and that's the thing," Schottenheimer said. "One of the things that's happening right now is we're being battle-tested. We are. We're finding out a lot about ourselves and our grit. It's not just the young players that we're talking about, it's all the players. We'd like to get that stuff now, so that when the games get bigger and bigger, and on a bigger stage, you feel equipped to handle it."

Well, the Cowboys aren't so much getting battle-tested as they are getting the doors blown off them, and while the team sits at 3-3, it is a very different feeling 3-3 with a somber mood hovering over the team.

The doom and gloom surrounding the organization is something that CowboysCountry.com mentioned in March as a potential side-effect of the "lame-duck" season. If things went south early, Dallas could start to unravel.

Related: Cowboys Coach Makes 'No. 1 Focal Point' Of Bye Week Perfectly Clear

And we've already seen examples of this, from McCarthy biting back at a reporter to Jerry Jones' tirade on 105.3 The Fan , where he threatened to have a radio host fired.

But Schotty remains upbeat (he doesn't have another choice) that what the Cowboys are going through now will serve them better later in the season.

However, if these types of beatings continue, when it does get down to the nitty-gritty in December, Dallas' season might already be over.

And there will be no opportunity to put the lessons learned early in the season into practice.