It’s undeniable: Dak Prescott is the driving force behind Cowboys’ impressive surge

ARLINGTON — A quarterback who couldn’t get out of his own way against San Francisco, a figure who has an army of critics ready to pounce at a moment’s notice, provided plenty of fodder coming out of that crushing Week Five loss.

And now?

There was Dak Prescott on the sideline in the fourth quarter, feasting on a turkey leg the way he had the Washington defense all afternoon.

You think your family’s Thanksgiving gathering was awkward? It couldn’t compare to the unsettling 45-10 defeat the Commanders endured.

The Dallas offense was explosive and efficient. The defense was aggressive and opportunistic as corner DaRon Bland set an NFL record with his fifth interception return for a touchdown this season.

There are six games left in the season, by the way.

The team’s impressive roll continued as the Cowboys racked up their seventh win of 20 or more points this season, something this franchise hasn’t accomplished in 55 years. The driving force behind this surge is undeniable.

Dak Prescott. In six-plus weeks, he’s gone from cynics questioning his competence and ability to win big games to inserting himself into the Most Valuable Player conversation.

“He’s playing at a high level,’’ head coach Mike McCarthy said.

The quarterback completed 22 of 32 passes for 331 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions on this crisp holiday afternoon. It was the 10th game of his Cowboys career with four or more touchdown passes, tying the club record set by Tony Romo, who just happened to be at AT&T Stadium to call this game for CBS.

“Growing up watching Tony, understanding all of the success he had and playing with him my rookie year, it’s pretty cool,’’ Prescott said. “But I want something that’s bigger than personal records.

“I’m just going to keep my head down and keep working and go for the main thing.’’

Prescott threw for just 153 yards and had three, second-half interceptions in a 32-point loss to the Niners on Oct. 8. Since then, he’s completed 72.3% of his passes for 1,874 yards with 18 touchdown passes and only two interceptions. Dallas is 5-1 in that stretch.

The only loss was to Philadelphia.

At this point, those on team Never Dak will argue it doesn’t mean much since the majority of these performances are coming against mediocre to bad teams. That’s too dismissive.

Prescott has helped establish CeeDee Lamb as one of the league’s elite receivers in this stretch. He’s discovered Brandin Cooks — the receiver had his fourth touchdown reception in the last six games — and created a connection with tight end Jake Ferguson similar to what he had with Dalton Schultz.

The quarterback looks much more decisive and comfortable than he did to open the season.

“I don’t know that I can put my finger right on it and say this is the why,’’ Prescott said. “As I talked about, it was a new system, new play calling.’’

Prescott and McCarthy spoke coming out of the San Francisco loss. McCarthy mentioned how there may have been a sense that everyone was trying to be too exact because they were concerned with the state of the offense.

There’s a saying: Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good. In making sure the nuances of this new offense took root, there appeared to be a reluctance — particularly on Prescott’s part — of not deviating from the call even if something else presented itself that made sense.

McCarthy isn’t one for wholesale changes or to chase new concepts. But there were new wrinkles to this offense, and the commitment to ironing out those wrinkles made the offense look stiff.

“It takes time to get the timing and efficiency to where you want it each and every year,’’ McCarthy said. “I think we looked like a first-year offense a little bit the first few weeks.’’

Not now. The offensive line, finally intact for three consecutive games, is rounding into form. There’s more motion in the offense. Prescott is moving around more than he did early in the season.

The red zone offense has improved dramatically with Dallas finding the end zone in 18 of its last 26 trips.

“It goes back to doing things we’ve done since the spring,’’ Prescott said. “Plays we’re confident with, plays that have answers regardless of whatever they run.

“We’re not trying to be pretty and dialing up the coverage beater. We’ve got guys who can win, guys who understand leverage, guys that understand where they need to be if it’s zone or who needs to win if it’s man.

“We’re getting back to what we all are most comfortable with.’’

Confidence is building.

“We know what we want to do,’’ Prescott said. “We know how we want to attack, how we want to go at these different teams. We’re running plays we’ve run since the spring, dressing them up different ways.

“It feels good.’’

Catch David Moore and co-host Robert Wilonsky on Intentional Grounding on The Ticket (KTCK-AM 1310 and 96.7 FM) every Wednesday night at 7 o’clock through the Super Bowl.

Twitter: @DavidMooreDMN

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