In a game the Vikings needed to have to stay in the chase for the number 1 seed, they folded and played terribly on both sides of the ball. The Vikings ended up losing 40-3. I’m going to change up how I recap the game normally I do offense, defense, and special teams. This week I’m going to go over quarters, do let’s get into it.
The first quarter was a tough opening quarter. The offense fumbled the ball on the 3rd play of the game Dallas started with a short field. Luckily the defense was able to hold them to a FG. The offense was able to move the ball on the ground and in the air. Unfortunately, Hock dropped a for-sure TD, and the Vikings settled for a FG to tie it up 3-3. Dallas got the ball back and marched down the field on the back of Tony Pollard, capped off by a Zeke Elliot 1 yd TD to take the lead 10-7.
The second quarter was even worse for the Vikings. The defense just could not get off the field and the offense couldn’t stay on the field. Dallas kept throwing to Andrew Booth’s side, which doesn’t surprise me. Darrisaw gave up two sacks on the first two series for the Vikings, then he went down with a concussion. You can tell the Vikings defense is missing the big man up the middle, Dalvin Tomlinson. Dallas’ offense was able to move down the field and score at will in the 2nd quarter. The Viking’s offense couldn’t get anything going. Went into halftime down 23-3, I wonder if anyone told the Vikings they have a game today. In the first half, the Cowboys had the ball for 19:44 to the Vikings at 10:16. The Vikings had 98 total yards in the first half.
The 3rd quarter wasn’t much better for the purple. Dallas came right on offense and scored a TD. The Viking’s line couldn’t keep Kirk upright at all. The Vikings ran the ball a little more than they had in the first half. I would have liked to see Minnesota run the ball a little more than they did as they seemed to be able to run. The offense and defense did more of the same the entire 3rd quarter…nothing.
Once the 4th quarter started the Vikings did the sensible thing and took Kirk out to keep him as healthy as possible for Thursday’s game against New England. With Kirk coming out it ended his streak of 39 straight games with a TD pass. Kirk finished 12/23 for 107 yards and was sacked 7 times and pressured more than I can count. It all started with the trenches both lines were terrible today. The D-line didn’t get after Dak at all today. The Vikings fall to 8-2 and will play New England on Thursday. The Cowboys improve to 7-3 and will play the Giants on Thursday.
Phil K