The Dallas Cowboys still have playmakers on their offense, in the absence of running back Ezekiel Elliott. What they don't have right now is a gamebreaker.
Elliott's ability to fundamentally change a football game is unmatched on the Cowboys roster.
Wideout Dez Bryant has been a gamebreaker in the past, but he's been relegated to that "playmaker" category, post-injuries.
Quarterback Dak Prescott has been a playmaker in his young Cowboys career, and could prove to be a gamebreaker in the coming months, but we don't know yet. So far, Elliott has been in a stratosphere all his own.
"Zeke's a different running back, man," Cowboys running back Darren McFadden said. "That's something that you just can't account for, the things he can go out there and do."
Which puts pressure on Prescott and Bryant to deliver, more than they had to before.
"I mean, the passing game has to be great regardless," Prescott said. "If Zeke's here or not, that's just part of it. We've got to be balanced."
The problem, particularly for Prescott, comes when trying to counterbalance the need to make game-breaking plays, with the simultaneous need to not make game-breaking mistakes.
"Yeah, it can get you in trouble thinking that, for the most part," Prescott said. "It's about just staying focused to my job, not feeling pressure to take a big shot or to force a throw, because of anything."
In addition, the Cowboys need guys who were backups until now to step up and be playmakers, themselves.
"A lot of people are thinking that 'oh, the running game is gonna falter', because Zeke's not here," fellow running back Alfred Morris said. "But that's not the case. Will we miss him? Yeah. But at the same time, the train goes on."
Of course, the one counter-argument to all of this, is that maybe all along, the gamebreakers have been the five guys on that offensive line.