After leading for the majority of the game, the Minnesota Vikings saw a win slip away from them and into the hands of the Dallas Cowboys.
Before Sunday night’s matchup even began, the Minnesota Vikings caught a huge break when it was announced that the Dallas Cowboys were going to be without starting quarterback Dak Prescott.
With Prescott out, most assumed the Vikings could pull off an upset over the 5-1 Cowboys inside U.S. Bank Stadium. Dallas had other plans though.
With their No. 2 quarterback, Cooper Rush, leading the way, the Cowboys left the field on Sunday night with a 20-16 win over Minnesota. With the loss, the Vikings are now 3-4 this season.
Quick thoughts on the Vikings loss to the Cowboys
Hunter’s injury is a big concern – Near the end of the first half on Sunday, it was revealed that Danielle Hunter had suffered a shoulder injury. Hunter was taken to the locker room in the second quarter and he was then listed as questionable for the remainder of the matchup.
Minnesota will be able to find out more about his injury during the upcoming week. But if it ends up forcing Hunter to miss any time, it will be a huge blow to the Vikings’ pass rush.
End of first half remains frustrating – It probably wouldn’t matter if Minnesota had an endless amount of timeouts, they would figure out a way to waste an offensive possession during the final minute of the second quarter.
It happened again on Sunday when the Vikings’ offense took the field with two timeouts on their own 15-yard line. Minnesota ran four plays, gained 18 yards, and scored zero points on the drive. Unfortunately, no one in the building was surprised by the result.
Griffen and offsides can’t avoid each other – Whenever Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen takes the field, one can almost guarantee that he will be flagged for some sort of offsides penalty during the matchup.
Griffen drew an offsides penalty in the first quarter and it was the 11th time the Minnesota pass rusher has been penalized for defensive offsides or for a neutral zone infraction since 2019. Luckily, Griffen was able to help everyone forget about his penalty on Sunday when he added another sack to his 2021 total.
Jefferson gives everyone a heart attack – Early in the third quarter, Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson had to be helped off the field after going down hard on an incomplete pass.
Following the injury to Hunter, most feared the worst for Jefferson, but thankfully, Minnesota’s top receiver was back on the field shortly after getting banged up.
More quick thoughts from Minnesota losing to Dallas
Woods had this game marked on his calendar – After four seasons with the Cowboys, Vikings first-year safety Xavier Woods had an opportunity to face his old team on Sunday night, and he certainly made the most of it.
Woods finished with eight tackles, one pass breakup, an interception, and a sack that resulted in a fumble recovery for Minnesota. The former Dallas safety might have actually made his old team regret their decision to let him go in free agency this year.
Cousins looked lost – If people watching the game on Sunday didn’t know it, the Cowboys were actually the team starting a backup quarterback and not the Vikings.
Not exactly sure what went on during the bye week, but Kirk Cousins looked very rusty in Minnesota’s loss against Dallas. Cousins threw for just 184 yards and one touchdown against a Cowboys pass defense that had allowed the fifth-most passing yards in the NFL heading into Week 8
The Vikings quarterback averaged a meager 5.4 yards per attempt on Sunday and only three of his 35 pass attempts traveled 15 yards or more.
Minnesota’s run defense played very well – If people are looking for positives to take away from the loss to Dallas, the Vikings’ defense was able to shut down a Cowboys’ rushing attack that ranked second in the league through the first seven weeks.
Dallas running backs Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard combined for just 76 yards on the ground and neither of them averaged more than 3.7 yards per carry.
Even more quick thoughts from Minnesota’s loss to Dallas
Cook didn’t get the ball enough – The Vikings struggled to move the ball on offense for the majority of the night. Despite this, they didn’t really utilize running back Dalvin Cook as well as they could have.
Cook carried the ball 18 times for 78 rushing yards on Sunday, but those were the only touches he had. He had just two passing targets and Minnesota didn’t make much of an attempt to call any screen passes for their top running back.
Cook has proven so many times in the past that he can take a screen pass and turn it into a big gain. So for him to not be given more opportunities with the ball in his hands was inexcusable.
Vikings got torched by a backup QB – In a matchup between Cooper Rush and Kirk Cousins, few would have likely predicted that Rush would be the one to throw for over 300 yards on Sunday. But that’s exactly what he did.
Before his start against Minnesota this week, Rush had a grand total of three pass attempts in his NFL career that began in 2017. However, that didn’t prevent him from throwing for 325 yards and two touchdowns against the Vikings on Sunday.
Rush still had plenty of moments where his inexperience popped up, but inside U.S Bank Stadium on Halloween night, he was the best quarterback on the field.
Minnesota misses a golden opportunity – With Dak Prescott sitting out the matchup, the Vikings had a huge chance to get a win over a very talented Dallas team.
But instead of defeating the Cowboys inside their own building, Minnesota let a win slip out of their hands, and now they’re back to having a record under .500.
Things don’t get any easier for the Vikings in Week 9 as they have to go on the road to take on Lamar Jackson and the 5-2 Baltimore Ravens.