With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers losing to the New Orleans Saints, the Dallas Cowboys had a chance to make a little noise of their own atop the conference standings with a win Sunday night.
Kirk Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings might have something to say about that.
The Vikings took an early lead over the Cowboys thanks to this connection between Cousins and wide receiver Adam Thielen:
Cousins to Thielen for the @vikings TD! #SKOL
📺: #DALvsMIN on NBC
📱: https://t.co/vo1pze9aC5 pic.twitter.com/ltEEXAXSY1— NFL (@NFL) November 1, 2021
Cousins takes the snap and flashes the football to the left side, where it seems the Vikings are setting up a smoke screen to Justin Jefferson. But that is simply bait, as Minnesota is looking to attack vertically down the field. Out of the bunch formation, tight end Tyler Conklin releases towards the outside on a wheel route while Thielen cuts vertically up the seam. The receivers gets lost in coverage, and Cousins hits him in stride for the score.
With Dak Prescott out, the Cowboys are relying on Cooper Rush to guide the offense in his first NFL start. As such, they might need their defense to turn in a big performance. If they want to take advantage of the loss from the Buccaneers, they’ll need to tighten things up a bit the rest of the night.