3 reasons the Cowboys were able to hand Vikings their second loss

What a game for the Dallas Cowboys. They may have been favored by the oddsmakers, but after what we saw in Green Bay, many didn’t believe America’s Team had the prowess to beat an 8-1 team coming off a comeback victory.

What could have been a close game or even a relatively understandable loss turned out to be an absolute butt-kicking by the Cowboys. Dallas handed Minnesota their second loss of the season on their own turf in a game that was so non-competitive that CBS literally switched the national broadcast to the Steelers-Bengals contest before the third quarter was even over.

The 40-3 win was the largest margin of victory on the road in franchise history. The closest to Sunday’s score was a 35-point win over the Giants in 1995.

There were so many improvements from Week 10. The run defense looked lightyears better, keeping Dalvin Cook to only 72 yards on 11 attempts. The offense was operating smoothly behind Dak Prescott’s 276 passing yards and 139.3 passer rating. Things looked better than they’ve looked in a while, and they finally did it against a truly formidable opponent.

While a lot went right, let’s look at three of the main reasons the Cowboys were able to dominate the Vikings.

3 reasons the Cowboys were able to hand the Vikings their second loss of 2022

3. Brett “Money” Maher

Once upon a time (a few months ago), Cowboys fans were up in arms because the Cowboys essentially had no kicker. The team put high hopes in UDFA Jonathan Garibay and veteran Lirim Hajrullahu, which went downhill quickly.

Fans were initially irate when the team decided to bring in Brett Maher for a tryout. The kicker missed at least one kick in 16 of his previous 29 games with America’s Team. He had a meager 66.7% of made kicks in 2019 with Dallas.

Fast forward to 2022 and he’s been as consistent as can be for this team.

On Sunday, Maher went 4 for 4 on field goal attempts, including two from 50 or more yards, and 4 for 4 on extra-point attempts.

In fact, the kicker had more combined fantasy football points (29.5) than Justin Jefferson, A.J. Brown, Dalvin Cook, and Saquon Barkley combined (28).

Maher was tested a lot against the Vikings. With five seconds left to go in the first half, Mike McCarthy sent the kicker out to see if he could hit a 60-yard field goal. Not only did he make it the first time, but when the referees absurdly called it off because they decided they wanted to review CeeDee Lamb’s catch that got the Cowboys to field-goal range, Maher made it again.

Two made 60-yard kicks in less than two minutes from a man who this franchise once despised.

The 60-yard field goal was his fourth made kick from 60-plus yard kicks in his career. That’s the most 60-yard field goals for any kicker in NFL history. No other kicker has more than two from that distance.

As we learned with Zuerlein, you never realize how important a kicker is until you don’t have a good one. Maher had 16 of the Cowboys’ 40 points tonight. Hats off to him.

2. Keep Rolling With the 1-2 Punch

There have been several debates about whether Tony Pollard or Ezekiel Elliott should be getting more snaps as a running back. Both have proved that they have the ability to be an RB1. However, the answer isn’t one or the other. We have learned that it’s clearly both.

Pollard did an excellent job with Elliott out for the last two games. As the RB1, he had 115 yards against the Packers and 131 yards against the Bears.

However, with Elliott back in the lineup against Minnesota, fans could see how crucial having both backs working together is for this offense. Pollard was there for both long rushes and receiving yards, and Elliott was there to get the brute force short gains he’s known for.

Pollard had another monster night with 15 rushes for 80 yards to go along with six receptions for 109 yards.

What Pollard has that Zeke may not have is that unstoppable speed. On both of his touchdowns against the Vikings, he turned on the jets to essentially go untouched into the end zone.

However, Elliott deserves his credit, too. After sitting out for three weeks (including the bye week) due to a knee sprain, No. 21 looked like he’d never left. He had 15 carries for 42 yards and two touchdowns on the win.

This game truly proved that the complement of the two backs is a lethal combination for defenses. Both have very unique skill sets and Kellen Moore is lucky to have both at his disposal.

1. Kirk Cousins Was Dominated

Kirk Cousins has led a great Minnesota team. Justin Jefferson had arguably one of the best games of his career against Buffalo and Dalvin Cook has been a top-10 running back all year.

However, in Week 11 Cousins and the offense weren’t able to do anything against the Dallas defense. In fact, Cousins was sacked seven times, which is the most he’s ever been sacked in his career.

Those seven sacks mean the Cowboys have over 40 sacks on the season as a team, which proves the dominance of their pass rush.

After getting embarrassed both on the ground and in the air last week in Green Bay, the Dallas defense knew they had to turn things around and that’s exactly what they did. Cousins was virtually unable to do anything, which was clearly proven by Minnesota only being able to score three points on the night.

The most exciting part about this defense is the depth. There are so many players who are able to get after the quarterback. Today, DeMarcus Lawrence, Dante Fowler Jr., and Jayron Kearse had a single sack, and Micah Parsons and Dorance Armstrong each had two.

After getting embarrassed by Green Bay, this unit found a way to dominate again. This is the type of Cowboys football we hope to see moving forward with playoff football coming soon.

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