The Dallas Cowboys bungled away another game where the team killed its chances of walking away victorious. This time, it was a 28-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings has put a playoff run in jeopardy with the tough, upcoming schedule.
Here are the heroes and goats from a disappointing Week 10 loss that dropped the club’s regular-season record to 5-4.
Hero: Dak Prescott
The only thing the QB didn’t do was put on a cape. Prescott tried to rescue the Cowboys on a night where the play calling put the offense in a bind for 60 minutes. Long second and third down conversions were easily picked up by Prescott, who threw the ball well all game. Prescott carved up the Vikings, throwing for 397 yards and three scores.
Goats: The rush defense
It was a sad performance from the run defense, who was gashed by RB’s Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison. The defense gave up 153 yards rushing and was bullied for most of the game. The most embarrassing part was the drive where the Vikings ran it 10 straight times, leading to the game-clinching score.
Hero: Amari Cooper
Cooper continues to impress, despite his numerous ailments. The stud WR caught 11 passes for 147 yards and a score, and Cooper’s footwork along the sidelines was silly. Cooper played at a high level to help the Cowboys’ offense moving the chains and coming back from an early deficit.
Goat: Chidobe Awuzie
It hasn’t been a good stretch for the third-year CB and his shotty play against the Vikings continued. Awuzie remains lost in coverage and still has MAJOR issues with ball location. Awuzie’s poor play on the two-point conversion to Kyle Rudolph was a big part of stunting the comeback.
Hero: Randall Cobb
It was Cobb’s first 100 yard game for the Cowboys and he scored on a beautiful 22-yard strike from Prescott. Cobb made some big catches to keep drives alive after getting behind on the down and distances.
Goat: Sean Lee
As good as he played last week, Lee got smoked against the Vikings. Lee was beat twice for touchdowns and got washed out on too many screen plays.
Hero: Robert Quinn
The veteran DE continued his stellar season with his seventh sack when he took down Vikings QB Kirk Cousins in the second quarter. It also netted Quinn a cool $800,000-plus bonus.
Goats: The coaching staff
We can sit here and talk about not being prepared to start the game, but that’s foolish. The coaches don’t drop passes or miss tackles. What we can blame them for is their decision making and stubbornness.
There is no reason to continue to bash your head into a brick wall; the running game wasn’t working, and the passing game was on fire. Yet here was Kellen Moore’s play calling on first down:
On 1st down the #Cowboys:
Passed 14 times for 108 yards (8.3 YPA).
Ran 16 times for 39 yards (2.44 YPC).
— John Owning (@JohnOwning) November 11, 2019
The Cowboys still had a chance to win the game late before two running calls essentially killed Dallas’ chances of winning the game. The play calling was a big issue in the loss.
You can chat with or follow Ben on twitter @BenGrimaldi
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