Dak Prescott's Play Against Washington Proves He Doesn't Need Zeke to Succeed

Reports of Dak Prescott's demise were greatly exaggerated. 

The Dallas Cowboys quarterback experienced a rough stretch as the team lost three straight contests that coincided with the onset of Ezekiel Elliott's six-game suspension. 

But the issues the Cowboys endured extended beyond Elliott's absence, and Prescott's play faltered as a result. Like any successful quarterback, the 24-year-old requires a stable surrounding cast. Dallas' 38-14 victory Thursday over the Washington Redskins at AT&T Stadium proved the Cowboys can still be competitive without Elliott. 

"We never counted ourselves out," Prescott said, per the Star-Telegram's Mac Engel. "I never counted us out."

It's impossible to achieve proper balance without multiple key pieces in place. This extends beyond a single absence. 

On the surface, Elliott's six-game suspension for violating the league's personal conduct policy looked like a fatal blow to the Cowboys offense. He was the team's workhorse after he led the NFL in rushing last season and accumulated 783 yards through the first eight contests—which still ranks sixth overall heading into the weekend. 

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Anecdotal evidence appeared to point toward Elliott's being far more important to the Cowboys' chances of victory than what has transpired. 

NBC's Thursday night telecast led the show with what appeared to be an enlightening statistic. The Cowboys averaged only 7.3 points and Prescott held a zero-to-five touchdown-to-interception ratio in the three previous games without Elliott. 

Correlation does not equal causation, though. 

The aforementioned stats overlooked injuries that ravaged the rest of the roster, mainly key pieces along the offensive line. 

Tyron Smith is the game's best left tackle. He missed two of the previous three contests due to a nagging groin injury. His presence on the blind side can't be overestimated. Smith is a rare talent who is extremely powerful at the point of attack and is athletic enough to block defensive backs in space and dominate as a pass-blocker, as Pro Football Focus noted in regard to Thursday's performance: 

Smith creates a ripple effect through the entire front. Defenses attacked the Cowboys' replacement tackles, and Chaz Green's career may have come to a premature end due to Adrian Clayborn's six-sack performance when the Atlanta Falcons beat the Cowboys 27-7 on Nov. 12. 

Defenses won't attack Smith. There's no reason to do so because he'll shut down whoever he faces. As a result, the Cowboys can slide protection to the right side more often to help out Smith's bookend, La'el Collins, who has been dealing with a sore back. 

All-Pro right guard Zack Martin was also in the lineup Thursday after he entered the league's concussion protocol during the Cowboys' Thanksgiving affair with the Los Angeles Chargers. 

Little dings added up over time, especially along the offensive front where cohesive play is necessary. They became even more of an issue considering the Cowboys offense is built around its ability to consistently dominate in the trenches. 

Very few would argue the Dallas offensive line wasn't the league's best entering the season. Yet the group didn't play to those expectations.

Everything changed with Thursday's performance. The front five once again looked like the driving force that dominated the 2016 campaign and deserved MVP consideration as a unit. 

Behind this group, Prescott established an impossible rookie standard in 2016. The thinking was the second-year signal-caller couldn't play to the same level in 2017. When he didn't, too many began to question if he was overrated or any good at all. 

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Five interceptions during his previous two outings didn't help the his cause. Prescott threw four interceptions during his entire rookie campaign. He's made recent mistakes because he's been asked to do more with less around him.

But the Dallas offense finally regained form against Washington, and Prescott contributed multiple high-difficulty throws.

That was in part because the offensive line helped running back Alfred Morris run wild. He carried the ball 27 times for 127 yards and a touchdown. 

"He makes a lot of runs people don't realize how good they are," head coach Jason Garrett said, per Engel.

Prescott's numbers, meanwhile, weren't eye-catching. The quarterback completed 50 percent of his passes for an unimpressive 102 yards. But these don't tell the entire story. Last year's Rookie of the Year gutted his way through the second half with an injured throwing hand. 

He still found Dez Bryant in the end zone for a 13-yard, fourth-quarter connection, as NFL.com relayed: 

"That's the way to throw the ball to Dez," owner Jerry Jones said after the game, per the Dallas Morning News' Jori Epstein. 

Bryant's re-emergence in the offense shouldn't be overlooked, either. The eighth-year receiver became the Cowboys' all-time leader by passing "Bullet" Bob Hayes with 72 receiving touchdowns, but he's been practically nonexistent as of late. 

Bryant hasn't registered a single 100-yard receiving game this season, and Thursday's touchdown became his first since Week 7 against the San Francisco 49ers. 

Everything appears to be coming together at the right time for the 6-6 Cowboys, as the team eyes a potential wild-card berth. Dallas' latest performance became a promising step in the right direction after weeks of disappointing play. 

No one needs to worry about Prescott anymore, not when the offensive line is grinding, Morris is producing and Bryant is scoring. 

Prescott's secret to getting ahead is getting started, and the Cowboys finally reversed course and found themselves on the right path with a near-complete offense. He answered his critics along the way, too. 

"Keep questioning me," the quarterback said before Thursday's performance, per SportsCenter. "Obviously, if you're questioning me, you don't know me and you don't know what I'm about. ... Have fun at it." 

Brent Sobleski covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @brentsobleski.