3 reasons the Cowboys can beat the Vikings in Week 11

It doesn’t take long to lose some good grace and the Dallas Cowboys are seeing that now as they’re being questioned following a meltdown against the Green Bay Packers in Week 10. The good news — possibly — is they can prove themselves worthy again should they knock off the Minnesota Vikings in Week 11.

Minnesota is one of the best teams in the league right now with a record of 8-1. And they just secured a huge win over the Buffalo Bills. Even so, there’s no reason to think Dallas can’t win this game. In fact, there are actually reasons to believe they can bounce back and we dive into three of those now.

3 reasons the Cowboys can beat the Vikings in Week 11

3. The luck has to run out

At 8-1, the Vikings are tied with the Eagles for the best record in the NFL but they’ve had two close calls back-to-back. Minnesota escaped Washington with a 20-17 win in Week 9 and then defeated the Buffalo Bills 33-30 in Week 10. In each of those games, they had to make a comeback in the fourth quarter and against Buffalo, they needed a lot to go their way.

That included Josh Allen fumbling the ball on his own goal line after the Vikings were stopped while trying to take the lead. All the Bills needed to do was sneak forward for enough space to kneel down and run out the clock but that didn’t happen. Instead, the ball came loose, and Minnesota jumped on it for a touchdown and took the lead.

It still wasn’t over at this point as they allowed the Bills to force overtime with a 69-yard drive that took just 39 seconds. After taking the three-point lead, they picked off Allen as he was going for the win.

Not every game is perfect and Minnesota has to be praised for the poise they’ve shown. Having said that, the luck eventually has to run out and that could happen against the Cowboys. Or at least we can hope it will.

2. Minnesota’s defense hasn’t been great

To say all the success Minnesota has had this season has been good luck isn’t fair, but they have been very fortunate. For example, they’re one of the worst defenses in the NFL in terms of yards surrendered, giving up 3,341 yards through nine games.

That’s 29th in the league but they still have found a way to keep teams from scoring. So far, they have given up 191 points, which is 14th in the NFL. That’s not elite, by any means, but it’s respectable — even if the total yardage isn’t.

Minnesota has also struggled in both facets of defense, although they’ve been very susceptible to the passing attack. Entering their game against Dallas, they’re 29th in pass defense with 2,366 yards given up. On the ground, they’ve seen opponents run for 1,065 yards, which is 16th in the league.

This bodes well for the Cowboys who did start to move the ball with some consistency against the Packers. There’s still a lot to be cleaned up as they’ve struggled to finish drives — thanks in large part to their constant penalties — but the opportunities will be there in Week 11.

That’s one reason to believe America’s Team can head into Minnesota and secure a much-needed win against one of the top teams in the NFC.

1. Dallas will have a renewed focus

Easily the most frustrating thing about the loss in Week 10 was the fact that Dak Prescott once again found himself on the losing end of a battle with one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL.

Prescott is 1-5 against the Packers now, including the playoff loss in 2016, 0-2 against Tom Brady, 0-1 against Patrick Mahomes, and was 0-3 in the regular season against Russell Wilson while he was with the Seattle Seahawks.

With all that being said, a loss to Rodgers and the Packers shouldn’t be surprising. While it’s not Prescott who is trying to stop the opposing quarterback, he seems to come up short when trying to outduel such talent.

If there’s any good news about that, it would be that Prescott has had success against Kirk Cousins. He and the rest of the team will also have a renewed focus this weekend.

Had Dallas defeated Green Bay despite all the turnovers and penalties, they could potentially come into this game thinking all was well. Instead, they’re going to be focused on fixing the small things and they have had some of their best games following a loss in recent years.

In 2021, for example, they dropped 43 on the Falcons following a loss to Denver and 51 on the Eagles after losing to the Cardinals.

Throw in the fact that the emotions from Mike McCarthy’s return to Green Bay are in the rearview and there should be plenty of hope that the Cowboys can pull this one off and remain within striking distance of the Eagles in the NFC East.

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