P Jordan Berry
Lost in all the Mike Zimmer blunders, and Kirk Cousins’ check downs, was the poor play of Vikings’ punter Jordan Berry. Berry has been very good for the Purple this season, but his performance against the Cowboys was by far his worst of the season.
Berry had a couple of shanks and failed to pin the Cowboys deep in their own end. He averaged 39.5 yards a punt which was quite a bit below his season average of just over 48. While his performance didn’t directly result in the team’s defeat, it sure didn’t help.
The Vikings‘ strategy was apparently to get up by a few points and then call plays to not lose the game. That strategy isn’t a good one by any means, but if a team is going to employ it and actually win with it, they need their punter to be on target. That didn’t happen with Berry on Sunday night, and his poor kicks gave the Cowboys the ball back with good field position, instead of pinning an inexperienced quarterback inside his own ten-yard line, where the pressure gets very intense and mistakes are easily made.
5 biggest takeaways from the Vikings loss to the Cowboys in Week 8
Week 8 saw the Minnesota Vikings suffer a frustrating loss to the Dallas Cowboys but there were some things to take away from the Halloween night game.
Everyone has off days, and this was definitely one for the Vikings’ punter. He wasn’t the biggest offender on this list, but his punting against the Cowboys was definitely disappointing.