This is not going to be a column about How the Dallas Cowboys Healed a Wounded City During a Horrible Year. Because that's not how it works. Wins aren't a salve that can be applied to an open wound and make it just disappear.

Besides, the Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington and practice in Frisco. They aren't even the Dallas County Cowboys anymore. My Robert Newhouse-loving grandmother would not have liked Jerry Jones.

And yet, there is no denying the obvious: When we needed it the most, in the aftermath of a horrific summer and with the words "police and fire pension fund" and "bankruptcy" on the tips of our tongues, the Dallas Cowboys have gifted us with, if nothing else, a joyful diversion. Which is all you can ask for in the midst of so much gloom and could-be doom. Every week offers one more installment in a singular season spearheaded by two special rookies who, in the span of three short months, have become the beaming faces of a once-mighty franchise that went 40-40 over the last five seasons -- the very definition of mediocre.

Ezekiel Elliott and Rayne Dakota Prescott didn't save Dallas. But they saved the Dallas Cowboys. And that's good enough.

That's what I told my 13-year-old son after the Cowboys beat Green Bay in mid-October to go 5-1 and I couldn't stop bawling. He wondered why the waterworks, and I didn't have a good answer; seemed a little weird to me, too. I mumbled something about relief, elation and, most of all, catharsis -- unfamiliar words to a boy who has no memory of a time when grocery stores were empty during Cowboys games.

"All of us now look forward to: What are the Cowboys going to do next week?" Roger Staubach said when we spoke last week. "Bad things happen every day. Sports provides a distraction, something to look forward to. And it's not only winning, but how these guys win and the type of players they are."

The greatest of Cowboys greats knows something of playing football in the midst of awful instants: He collected his Heisman and led Navy to a victory over Army just days after John Kennedy was killed in downtown Dallas. Neither win mattered much to him at the time. But, he was told, it mattered to others. And what was true then is no less true now.

"All of us in our everyday life, there's something to overcome," he said. "But now you add to it the horrible thing that took place in the city this summer, and there's this feeling you'll never overcome it. But having a successful team makes a difference. I feel it myself."

No matter how the Dallas Cowboys' season ends -- be it with that familiar one-and-done thud or a who-da-thunk-it championship's cheers, and it could still go either way at this late date -- there are two images that will linger well past the final play.

ARLINGTON, TX - DECEMBER 18: Ezekiel Elliott #21 of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates after scoring a touchdown by jumping into a Salvation Army red kettle during the second quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at AT&T Stadium on December 18, 2016 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) (Tom Pennington / Getty Images)

One is recent, still fresh in the memory -- that of the 21-year-old rookie running back leaping into the giant red kettle just beyond the end zone last Sunday night, against Tampa Bay. No doubt you've watched and rewatched and re-rewatched it countless times at this point -- the hasty duck-and-cover, the hide-and-seek with teammate Keith Smith, the hugs and high-fives, the giant grin that wouldn't quit even after he was admonished by the head coach for drawing a silly penalty. It never gets old.

On the sideline, Elliott told a bemused Tony Romo he simply had no choice but to ring the Salvation Army's bell. "It was classy," Zeke said, punctuating his explanation with that infectious, raspy machine-gun giggle. It was charitable, too: Elliott, a pregame vision in belly shirts, rang up more than $200,000 in donations for the Salvation Army in just two days. They're laughing all the way to the clothing bank, food pantry and homeless shelter.

Now, rewind the season. Beyond the history-making headlines proclaiming Elliott and Prescott as, respectively, the first rookie running back and first freshman quarterback selected to the Pro Bowl in the same year since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. Beyond the 12-2 start no one could have seen coming. Beyond the poise and class exhibited by Prescott, who sent flowers to Emmitt Smith when the greatest running back of all time lost his mother, and who comes off like the grounded, pragmatic half of the Dak-and-Zeke odd couple.

Go further back still. Beyond Jerry Jones' ginned-up quarterback controversy that put product over team. Beyond the opening of the gaudiest practice facility in all of sports. Beyond the flash, beyond the noise.

Stop the tape on July 30, the very first day of training camp in Oxnard, Calif., when Romo was still No. 1 on the depth chart, Zeke wasn't the league's leading rusher, and a "dak" was still, according to Merriam-Webster," a transport or post by relays of men and horses." Feels like a forever ago. It hasn't even been five months.

The image is vivid, even from this distance, of then-Dallas Police Chief David Brown and Mayor Mike Rawlings linking arms with Cowboys players and coaches as they strode across the practice field, joined by the mother and daughter of Patrick Zamarripa, one of five police officers slain in downtown Dallas just weeks before. Patrick was a devoted Cowboys fan who'd met Jason Witten and Romo and Dez Bryant and shared with them stories of being a Dallas cop.

Dallas police Chief David Brown (center) walked arm-in-arm with (from left) Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, strong safety Barry Church (42), cornerback Orlando Scandrick (32), tight end Jason Witten (82) Magnus Ahrens, 8, (son of slain Dallas officer Lorne Ahrens), his aunt Erika Swyryn, and tight end James Hanna (84) before opening day of training camp in Oxnard, California, Saturday, July 30, 2016. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News) -- MANDATORY CREDIT, NO SALES, MAGS OUT, TV OUT, INTERNET USE BY AP MEMBERS ONLY (Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)

The training-camp kickoff was, for the most part, Witten's idea; Cowboys executive vice president Charlotte Jones Anderson extended the invitations. The team commemorated the moment by affixing "Arm in Arm" decals to each player's helmet. The National Football League's front office would later tell the Cowboys they weren't allowed -- a ridiculous ruling.

After they'd walked out on to the field and formed a circle, after Brown pumped his fist and proclaimed them all "Dallas Strong," Rawlings acknowledged the significance of the gathering -- its profound weight.

"You know, there are mythic moments in history, in the histories of cities," he said on July 30. "We went through a terrible one a few weeks ago. This, hopefully, is a mythic moment to take us to the next level. As I reminded the team today, they'll always be the Cowboys, but this year, play for Dallas like they've never played before."

Not long ago, Elliott and Prescott were just two young guys full of potential with no connection to each other or Dallas. Now, they're linked to each other -- and to us. That's why they're SportsDay's Texas Sports Personalities of the Year -- because they're the right guys. In the right place. And at just the right time.

Catch Robert Wilonsky and David Moore as they co-host Intentional Grounding on The Ticket (KTCK-AM 1310 and 96.7 FM) every Wednesday from 7-8 p.m. through the Super Bowl.

Past honorees

1996: Michael Johnson

1997: Tom Hicks

1998: Ricky Williams

1999: Lance Armstrong

2000: Mark Cuban

2001: The fan

2002: Emmitt Smith

2003: Bill Parcells

2004: Carly Patterson

2005: Don Hooton

2006: Vince Young

2007: Jerry Jones

2008: The Texas QB

2009: Cowboys Stadium

2010: Nolan Ryan

2011: Dirk Nowitzki

2012: Johnny Manziel

2013: Jordan Spieth

2014: Clayton Kershaw

2015: Jordan Spieth