'We fought like crazy': Cousins, Cook lead Vikings to 28-24 road win over Cowboys
MINNEAPOLIS - The Vikings finished off a thrilling weekend of Minnesota football with a 28-24 road win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football to improve to 7-3 on the season.
Kirk Cousins threw for 220 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Kyle Rudolph, Dalvin Cook had 183 total yards and a touchdown and Jayron Kearse sealed the win with an interception on Dak Prescott’s Hail Mary pass as time expired. In the defensive series before that, Eric Kendricks knocked away a Prescott pass heading for Ezekiel Elliott on 4th and 5, killing a potential Cowboys’ scoring drive.
For the third time this season, the Vikings responded from a loss and got a victory to prevent a losing streak. It’s their third road win of the season.
“I thought we fought like crazy. Good game, I’m proud of this team and the way they fought and worked,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. “This team fights. If this team continues to fight and battle like this, we’ll win some games.”
The Vikings’ defense limited Ezekiel Elliott, ranked No. 6 in the NFL in rushing, to just 47 yards on 20 carries.
The narrative that Cousins can’t win a big game under the national spotlight is staying on the shelf, at least for one week. It’s his third win against an above .500 team since becoming the Vikings’ starter.
The Vikings improve to 7-3 and remain one game back of Green Bay, which beat Carolina 24-16 on Sunday. The win also completes a perfect weekend in Minnesota after the Gophers had a thrilling 31-26 win over Penn State on Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium, and are now ranked in the top-10 in the country.
The Vikings responded to adversity, with Adam Thielen, Linval Joseph and Trae Waynes all unable to play. Cousins finished 23-of-32 passing for 220 yards with a 111.5 passer rating as the Vikings finished the game 8-of-14 on third down conversions. Cook finished with 97 yards on 26 carries and now needs nine yards to eclipse 1,000 for the season.
Rudolph, while the numbers won’t jump off the page, had his best game of the season for the Vikings. He finished with four catches for 14 yards, but his first catch of the night was the most impressive. The 1-handed grab in the back of the end zone tight-roping the back line gave the Vikings an early 7-0 lead. The throw was high, maybe intentionally, and looked like it was headed out of the end zone.
“I still haven’t asked Kirk if he was throwing that one away or not but I saw the ball in the air. It was big for us to get off to a fast start,” Rudolph said. “If we wanted to get out of here with a win tonight, we had to start fast.”
His second touchdown of the night gave the Vikings a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. He added a catch for a two-point conversation that gave Minnesota a 28-21 lead at the end of the third.
Rudolph is becoming a bigger piece of the offense with every game after being tasked mostly with blocking duties early in the season.
“Kyle, he’s a true Viking. He’s a guy that works his rear end off every day,” Zimmer said.
Cook added 69 receiving yards in the first quarter to break Robert Smith’s record of 67 set back in September of 1998. The Vikings also improved to 40-1 in franchise history when leading by at least 14 points after the first quarter.
Prescott did his best to keep the Cowboys in the game all night. He hit Michael Gallup for a 23-yard touchdown in the second quarter to put Dallas on the board, then hit former Packer Randall Cobb for a 22-yard score to tie it 14-14 in the second quarter.
The Vikings got a 26-yard field goal from Dan Bailey to take a 17-14 lead into the break.
Prescott was far from done. He hit Amari Cooper for a 12-yard touchdown on Cooper’s second straight catch where he had to toe drag the sideline to stay in bounds, and the Cowboys took their first lead at 21-20 midway through the third quarter.
It was then that the Vikings started to impose their will. They went on a 75-yard scoring drive that featured 10 straight running plays. Cook and Alexander Mattison combined for 63 of the 80 yards on the drive, which ended with Cook scoring from 1-yard out on 4th and goal. Rudolph’s catch on the two-point conversion made it 28-21 at the end of the third quarter.
The Vikings ran for 153 of their 364 total yards in the win.
“They can’t stop it, that’s the good part. It just breaks your will,” Zimmer said.
Minnesota’s secondary has plenty to address when it looks at the film this week. Prescott finished 28-of-46 for 397 yards and three scores. With Waynes out, Prescott went after Mike Hughes often. Dallas finished 9-of-15 on third down conversions, including a perfect 5-of-5 on third downs of at least seven yards.
But Kendricks and Kearse came up with the plays when it mattered the most, and the Vikings are 7-3 with Denver coming to town next Sunday.