We Dem Vikez

Vikings 28

Cowboys 24

The newest biggest win of the season came against many of this team's biggest buggaboos. Primetime road game against a winning team, and coming off that painful loss in Kansas City. And with the Packers having won again and needing to keep pace.

This team looked early like a totally different team than last week, where they basically game planned to lose. They ran, and did so outside. They ran screens, which Cook turned into huge plays. They moved Cousins outside the.pocket. And they rolled down the field for touchdowns on their first 2 drives as if Dallas' defense was barely there.

I never really thought this game was heading for a rout anyway, but the Vikings pass defense stepped in and made that a certainty. Basically the last 3 quarters of this game was horrific. It was Leslie Frazier era pass defense. Granted, Dallas did make a few just ridiculous catches, including 2 for scores, but this was disheartening stuff to watch. Wide open receivers constantly, and most of them on 3rd down. We had to have given up more 3rd down conversions tonight than in any game in the Zimmer era. Thankfully we at least shut down Ezekiel Elliott and kept Dak Prescott from running all over the field.

One of the biggest keys tonight was that, despite the adversity and the setting, the Vikings never lost total control of this game. After Dallas tied it at 14 we drove right down the field to get a field goal right before the half. We added another 3 after halftime.

Then Dallas drove down the field and took their one lead after a preposterous and impossible to defend Amari Cooper catch.

But the Vikings never panicked. They never lost their cool. They simply responded with maybe their biggest drive of the season. Very methodical stuff, a lot of it on the ground. It appeared that Mattison had run it in, but he was ruled down just short. What followed was a false start, then 3 straight short runs. It looked like that half yard miss by Mattison was going to cost us 4 points, cause at least we still could get the 3 and retake the lead. 

Fuck that. Zimmer ignored me screaming from.the recliner to kick the field goal and went for it on 4th down. Cook darted in for the six. Then, as I was slightly less vocally saying to just kick the PAT, Zim also went for 2, and we got it. I'm the idiot. This sequence went from frustrating to potentially disastrous, to what won them the game. Obviously if it doesn't work it maybe loses the game, but in the end you needed touchdowns, and Zim was right. 

The defense never really improved, but they did enough to hold Dallas to 3 on the next series. But the Vikings couldn't burn off the clock and had to punt the ball back with under 5 minutes left. 

What a weird deja vu situation. Vikings last week, and Gophers yesterday. And again the Vikings. Defense needing to hold a late lead. Dallas gashed us all the way down the field again. I was again screaming for Zimmer to call timeouts so we could still have a chance after the inevitable Dallas score. But we stopped them on 2 runs, setting up a 4th down.  Play of the season. And, as he has so many times this year, Eric Kendricks stepped up and made the play, tipping away a sideline pass. 

Problem was Dallas rolled down the field so easily that they hadn't even needed to use any timeouts. So we had to run a few plays.and punt. Dalvin damn near had a Joe Pisarchik moment. But the plan worked.

We punt it back to them with about 20 seconds left. Dallas ended up with just one shot at the endzone. A Dallas hail mary against the Vikings? When has that ever worked? The ball seemed to hang in the air forever. 

I don't think I've ever exhaled harder than when I saw Jayron Kearse run out of that scrum with a game ending pick. What a win!!!

Cousins haters are in shambles. The guy played another excellent game tonight. But I'm sure the goalposts will be moved on him again.

Kyle Rudolph's stats read 4 catches for 14 yards, but he had one of the biggest, clutches games of his life. The 1st TD was one of the best catches you will ever see. 2nd was easier, but still big. He flat out outmuscled the guy on him to get the 2 point conversion. And he also had a key 3rd down grab after that.

No Thielen, Joseph or Waynes. Pass defense imploding. But this team really gutted this one out.

I don't know what their playoff odds are, but they went up big today. This win, plus losses by Carolina and LA, really gives us some badly needed separation. We are a game and a half up now on the Rams, Panthers, and Eagles(who are tied with Dallas, and of course we have tiebreakers over both). Assuming we take care of business against Denver, we will be 8-3 into the bye.