We begin the upper echelon of the NFL with the team that many people presume will win the Super Bowl this year.

The Dallas Cowboys.

And though there’s reason to believe that the Cowboys will indeed be very good — they added some talent in cornerback Pacman Jones and linebacker Zach Thomas and didn’t lose much if anything from a squad that won 13 regular-season games a year ago — the real focus for this team will be its first playoff game.

That’s when the pressure will descend on a franchise that hasn’t won a postseason game since 1996, and a quarterback whose turnovers cost them each of the last two.

And if the Cowboys face a division rival (like, say, the Eagles) in their postseason opener, the pieces could be in place for another defeat.

If, however, the Cowboys can break that 12-year string of something other than success, they could cap it all off with another Super Bowl win.

It might be the only one for another 12 years or so; with Jerry Jones thinking once again that it’s all about him, a post-Jimmy Johnson-style drought could be coming.