Cowboys Pregame

[Purple Domination]

A big game on Sunday Night. Sounds like Thielen will be out. The Cowboys have looked beatable, though, and struggled last week against NYG until late.

I like our chances to play well. Our three losses have come outdoors on grass and I think we’ll be more comfortable at Jerry Dome. I expect a lot of purple in the stands like we had in KC.

Skol!

[Dames]

A big game on Sunday Night. Sounds like Thielen will be out. The Cowboys have looked beatable, though, and struggled last week against NYG until late.

I like our chances to play well. Our three losses have come outdoors on grass and I think we’ll be more comfortable at Jerry Dome. I expect a lot of purple in the stands like we had in KC.

Skol!

I agree of course, and not just because I have a side bet with VL

I think playing on turf does strangely help us. Not sure why, but our record is a bit brutal on grass in the Zimmer era. (Most of that without Kirk).

The Cowboys are not bad, but definitely not great. Kinda like us.

It should be a good game.

[Svt40]

I was going to go to this game with a coworker. But I figure I'll enjoy it more at home. Besides tickets are crazy money even for the nose bleed section in the Jerry Dome.

Sadly I have little faith that we'll pull out a win. But I'll still watch till the bitter end.

[VikingLord]

The factors that will determine the outcome of this game:

- Which Kirk Cousins shows up? The one winging short and deep passes over receiver's heads, or the one making confident and crisp throws? The one who commits the untimely key mistake, or the one who plays error free?
- Which Vikings offensive strategy do we get? The one that understands the core strengths of the offense and how to best attack the opposing defense, or the one that gets cute and leans on the element of surprise too much? How aggressive will they be? Will they attack the opposing defense and make them prove they can stop it, or will they play "Take what they give you"?
- Which Vikings defense shows up? The aggressive, disruptive defense that makes life very hard for the opposing OC to execute his gameplan, or the one that sits back and plays the odds, hoping for the opposing offense to make a mistake? Will they make the key plays that need to be made, or concede them? Can they avoid the dumb penalties that allow the opposing offense to extend drives?
- Can the special teams be special? Can they execute in that phase of the game and make a positive difference?

All of these factors are solely within the control of the Vikings and have zero to do with their opponent de jeur.

As far as the specifics of the Cowboys go, I'll start that piece off with a clear warning that the Cowboys should not be judged based on their record. It is terribly deceiving IMHO. They've struggled a bit, but the Cowboys possess an explosive offense, solid offensive line, solid skill position players, and a very capable QB who can extend plays with his feet if necessary. They can get sloppy and frustrated on offense, and if that happens they tend to bog down, but give them a head of steam and they can romp as they did late against the Giants. This is an offense that is playing at home and like KC, will take their shots down the field. The Vikings defense offered little opposition to KC's aggression.

On defense, the Cowboys are statistically better than the Vikings in some categories and every bit as good overall. Like the Vikings they can struggle with consistency, but unlike the Vikings, in this upcoming game they'll have the crowd noise on their side. I expect the Cowboys to play similar to how KC and the Bears played - stack the LOS and make sure the Vikings can't run. Force Cousins to beat them through the air. It's going to be the same basic strategy all year I think. Cousins had some success against defenses that couldn't stop the Vikings run game, but if a defense can limit the run game, he's struggled as well. I expect Dallas to come out very aggressive, stack it up, and let Cousins do his thing for ill or good.

And that, very unfortunately, is why I don't expect the Vikings to win. I just don't have faith in Cousins in games like these. If the Vikings lose it won't be solely because of Cousins, of course. There will be blame to go around as there always is in a team sport, but when it comes down to it, Cousins won't be the positive difference that allows them to win, either, and I could see him making a mistake or two ala what he did against the Packers earlier in the year that is highly correlated to the loss.

The game should be close and might even come down to a late field goal as it did against KC, but in the end I see the Vikings coming up short in this one. I hope I'm wrong.

[Tark]

A big game on Sunday Night. Sounds like Thielen will be out. The Cowboys have looked beatable, though, and struggled last week against NYG until late.

I like our chances to play well. Our three losses have come outdoors on grass and I think we’ll be more comfortable at Jerry Dome. I expect a lot of purple in the stands like we had in KC.

Skol!

Nope, prime time against a winning team = Cousins loss in addition to our lame defense, again. Book it, Dano.

[CharVike]

Theilan being out will hurt big time. We don't have a guy that should be starting next to Diggs. We signed Treadwell but he probably shouldn't be in the NFL. He was on the street. Nobody cared. Green Bay needed WRs and didn't care. As some have said they probably will stacked the LOS to stuff our ground game. They will make Cousins beat them. Can he? Based on history highly doubtful. So again our D needs to step up and play a great game. Will they? Based on prior history I doubt it. Hitting the road against a good team is a tough task. Hopefully they will try and pound the ball and get our OL into a rhythm. Most felt that would be the game plan last week but our OC threw that out the window and decided to start out in heavy pass mode. With a banged up and thin WR group. Who knows what he will do this week. I would hope he goes with our strength. So that won't happen. Bottom line this is a hard game and we probably come up short.

[CharVike]

The factors that will determine the outcome of this game:

- Which Kirk Cousins shows up? The one winging short and deep passes over receiver's heads, or the one making confident and crisp throws? The one who commits the untimely key mistake, or the one who plays error free?
- Which Vikings offensive strategy do we get? The one that understands the core strengths of the offense and how to best attack the opposing defense, or the one that gets cute and leans on the element of surprise too much? How aggressive will they be? Will they attack the opposing defense and make them prove they can stop it, or will they play "Take what they give you"?
- Which Vikings defense shows up? The aggressive, disruptive defense that makes life very hard for the opposing OC to execute his gameplan, or the one that sits back and plays the odds, hoping for the opposing offense to make a mistake? Will they make the key plays that need to be made, or concede them? Can they avoid the dumb penalties that allow the opposing offense to extend drives?
- Can the special teams be special? Can they execute in that phase of the game and make a positive difference?

All of these factors are solely within the control of the Vikings and have zero to do with their opponent de jeur.

As far as the specifics of the Cowboys go, I'll start that piece off with a clear warning that the Cowboys should not be judged based on their record. It is terribly deceiving IMHO. They've struggled a bit, but the Cowboys possess an explosive offense, solid offensive line, solid skill position players, and a very capable QB who can extend plays with his feet if necessary. They can get sloppy and frustrated on offense, and if that happens they tend to bog down, but give them a head of steam and they can romp as they did late against the Giants. This is an offense that is playing at home and like KC, will take their shots down the field. The Vikings defense offered little opposition to KC's aggression.

On defense, the Cowboys are statistically better than the Vikings in some categories and every bit as good overall. Like the Vikings they can struggle with consistency, but unlike the Vikings, in this upcoming game they'll have the crowd noise on their side. I expect the Cowboys to play similar to how KC and the Bears played - stack the LOS and make sure the Vikings can't run. Force Cousins to beat them through the air. It's going to be the same basic strategy all year I think. Cousins had some success against defenses that couldn't stop the Vikings run game, but if a defense can limit the run game, he's struggled as well. I expect Dallas to come out very aggressive, stack it up, and let Cousins do his thing for ill or good.

And that, very unfortunately, is why I don't expect the Vikings to win. I just don't have faith in Cousins in games like these. If the Vikings lose it won't be solely because of Cousins, of course. There will be blame to go around as there always is in a team sport, but when it comes down to it, Cousins won't be the positive difference that allows them to win, either, and I could see him making a mistake or two ala what he did against the Packers earlier in the year that is highly correlated to the loss.

The game should be close and might even come down to a late field goal as it did against KC, but in the end I see the Vikings coming up short in this one. I hope I'm wrong.

Good write up. If anyone thinks Cousins can win this himself it won't happen. Matter of fact does he have any weapons beyond Diggs. I know they signed Treadwell which basically falls under for what? The guy sucks big time. Not making early excuses but the fact is we have one legit NFL WR. We might be better off going 3 TEs/ 1 WR. That should help the ground game I think, I expect our D to melt down in prime time again also. So they won't carry us either. Being on the road hurts to. So I expect a Cowboy win.

[J. Kapp 11]

I'm not a Cousins apologist, by any means.

But my sincere hope is that Kirk Cousins balls out and wins this game -- and is the PRIMARY REASON we win this game.

I'm so tired of the narrative that the guy can't play in big games. I'm not blaming you guys. I'm just tired of the narrative. Cousins has to change the narrative. It's up to him.

However, rather than decide it's entirely impossible, I'm going to side on rooting for him to do it. Call me a wide-eyed optimist, but I just can't deal with this "chalk it up as a loss" attitude. I DO NOT expect a Dallas win. The Vikings are my team, and they're at least a playoff contender. I expect a Vikings win. Every game.

[CharVike]

I'm not a Cousins apologist, by any means.

But my sincere hope is that Kirk Cousins balls out and wins this game -- and is the PRIMARY REASON we win this game.

I'm so tired of the narrative that the guy can't play in big games. I'm not blaming you guys. I'm just tired of the narrative. Cousins has to change the narrative. It's up to him.

However, rather than decide it's entirely impossible, I'm going to side on rooting for him to do it. Call me a wide-eyed optimist, but I just can't deal with this "chalk it up as a loss" attitude. I DO NOT expect a Dallas win. The Vikings are my team, and they're at least a playoff contender. I expect a Vikings win. Every game.

We all expect a Viking win every game. But you expect one guy to do it. This is a three phase sport. If Cousins blows we won't win. If Cousins plays great and our D blows we won't win. If our ST play like crap we won't win. All three pieces need to play well or we will get beat. Same goes for the Cowboys. I don't think the Cowboys are a great team but they are at home for a prime time game. We are equal to them. It's a toss up. My concern is having only 1 legit WR. That will limit the pass game. Hopefully this great OC we have will use our strength and pound the ball. Get the OL into a rhythm. With that he'll probably try and air it out with 1 weapon and not let the OL get in sync. Say good night at that point. On D the big problem will be this Cowboy OL. They are good and will use there strength and pound the ball big time. So we will need to stuff that line and run blitz. Don't get pushed around. Push them around. Then we can't allow the deep quick strike like last week. I don't know if Waynes was smoked or he was expecting help over the top. I don't know what the call was. But our DC better give some help over the top. Is that so hard to do? And he better bring big time heat. We need to play well across the board. Not one guy. Plus we need to out coach this guy the Cowboys have. Give him something new. Time will tell.

[StumpHunter]

I'm not a Cousins apologist, by any means.

But my sincere hope is that Kirk Cousins balls out and wins this game -- and is the PRIMARY REASON we win this game.

I'm so tired of the narrative that the guy can't play in big games. I'm not blaming you guys. I'm just tired of the narrative. Cousins has to change the narrative. It's up to him.

However, rather than decide it's entirely impossible, I'm going to side on rooting for him to do it. Call me a wide-eyed optimist, but I just can't deal with this "chalk it up as a loss" attitude. I DO NOT expect a Dallas win. The Vikings are my team, and they're at least a playoff contender. I expect a Vikings win. Every game.

You don't have to be a Cousins apologist to hope he goes balls out and is the primary reason we win. I hope for that every game against a playoff team.

Unfortunately, he is 1-5 against Dallas since taking over as a full time starter and everything points to this being one of his bad games.

[J. Kapp 11]

I'm not a Cousins apologist, by any means.

But my sincere hope is that Kirk Cousins balls out and wins this game -- and is the PRIMARY REASON we win this game.

I'm so tired of the narrative that the guy can't play in big games. I'm not blaming you guys. I'm just tired of the narrative. Cousins has to change the narrative. It's up to him.

However, rather than decide it's entirely impossible, I'm going to side on rooting for him to do it. Call me a wide-eyed optimist, but I just can't deal with this "chalk it up as a loss" attitude. I DO NOT expect a Dallas win. The Vikings are my team, and they're at least a playoff contender. I expect a Vikings win. Every game.

You don't have to be a Cousins apologist to hope he goes balls out and is the primary reason we win. I hope for that every game against a playoff team.

Unfortunately, he is 1-5 against Dallas since taking over as a full time starter and everything points to this being one of his bad games.

I don't care what everything points to.

I also don't care what Cousins' record against Dallas is, and I don't know what his past problems against them were. That was with Washington. He's a Viking now, and he's our quarterback. I refuse to approach a game like Eyore and chalk it up as a loss before it starts. It's not like Cousins can't play well on the road. If he plays like he did against Detroit, we'll destroy Dallas. The Cowboys' great weakness under Jason Garrett is their inability to deal with adversity. If we start fast, we'll beat them handily. Cousins has to do his part. I believe he will.

[VikeFanInEagleLand]

I think at this point, I will classify this as a BIG GAME for Cousins. Coming off the loss to KC, it wouldn't be good at all to lose two in a row to what most people would say are quality teams.(though I'm really not a true believer in Dallas) Regardless, I think Cousins can put to rest some of the "Big Game/National TV Game" criticism by beating America's Team in Prime Time.

[StumpHunter]

You don't have to be a Cousins apologist to hope he goes balls out and is the primary reason we win. I hope for that every game against a playoff team.

Unfortunately, he is 1-5 against Dallas since taking over as a full time starter and everything points to this being one of his bad games.

I don't care what everything points to.

I also don't care what Cousins' record against Dallas is, and I don't know what his past problems against them were. That was with Washington. He's a Viking now, and he's our quarterback. I refuse to approach a game like Eyore and chalk it up as a loss before it starts. It's not like Cousins can't play well on the road. If he plays like he did against Detroit, we'll destroy Dallas. The Cowboys' great weakness under Jason Garrett is their inability to deal with adversity. If we start fast, we'll beat them handily. Cousins has to do his part. I believe he will.

Good.

I think you are right about hitting them early. The Packers got up big early and the Cowboys never recovered. I think the same happened with the Jets, but am not positive. The Saints loss they were in it the whole game and got after the QB pretty good, but that game probably is a blowout without a bunch of drops and holding calls and the Saints shooting themselves in the foot.

[VikeFanInEagleLand]

I lay this game more at the feet of the defense. They need to show up, take pride in themselves as the dominant defense they're supposed to be and stifle Dallas. Cousins and the offense, even when not clicking on all cylinders can put 20 points on the board. If defense plays well, and the offense doesn't turn the ball over, Vikings should win.

[VikingLord]

I think at this point, I will classify this as a BIG GAME for Cousins. Coming off the loss to KC, it wouldn't be good at all to lose two in a row to what most people would say are quality teams.(though I'm really not a true believer in Dallas) Regardless, I think Cousins can put to rest some of the "Big Game/National TV Game" criticism by beating America's Team in Prime Time.

Despite what their record says, Dallas is a better team than KC, especially with Mahomes out. It's not even close, actually.