Team Grades: Cowboys' Defense Hangs On To Win Close Game Over Vikings
By Shawn Lealos
The Dallas Cowboys came into Thursday Night Football with a chance to clinch a playoff spot. However, in order to do so, the Cowboys had to beat the best defense in the NFL and hope for some help this weekend from other teams. In one of their toughest games of the season to date, the Cowboys did their part. Dallas held off a late Vikings flurry to overcome a lackluster offensive performance and won 17-15. Here is a look at the Dallas Cowboys' team grades for this hard fought win.
Offense: C+
This was easily the worst performance by the Dallas Cowboys offense this season. However, one needs to take into account that the Minnesota Vikings came into the game ranked No. 1 in defensive efficiency for the season, and was the toughest defense Dallas faced this year.
Dak Prescott struggled badly in this game. While his completion percentage wasn't terrible (he completed 12 of 18 pass attempts for 139 yards), he fumbled the ball twice.
The first fumble was recovered by Minnesota and led to the Vikings taking a 9-7 lead in the game. The second fumble came in the fourth quarter and could have cost Dallas the game if Ezekiel Elliott hadn't recovered the lost ball. Speaking of Elliott, he also fumbled the ball once, but recovered it himself. Lucky Whitehead fumbled once as well.
Dallas won with two touchdowns and both were thanks to Dez Bryant. The first came in the second quarter when Dak Prescott threw a deep 56-yard pass to Bryant that set up an Ezekiel Elliott one-yard touchdown run. The second came after the Vikings fumbled a punt and then Prescott connected with Bryant for an eight-yard pass and run for the score. Bryant finished with four receptions for 84 yards and Elliott added 86 yards rushing in the game.
Defense: B+
All season long, the Dallas Cowboys have won on offense while their defense remained underappreciated. This game changed that. Dallas' defense limited the Vikings to only three field goals until the final Minnesota drive of the football game. They also sacked Sam Bradford twice and Shaun Hill once in the game, while delivering nine quarterback hits. They knocked Bradford out for a short time in the second quarter when Minnesota was trying to drive the field.
The Cowboys defense also held the Vikings' rushing to just 87 total yards in the game. The one downfall for the unit was the final drive of the game where Sam Bradford easily led his Vikings down to score a touchdown with under a minute remaining in the fourth quarter. Luckily, the Cowboys stopped the two-point conversion attempt and held on to win the game.
Special Teams: A
The biggest play of the game came in the fourth quarter. The Vikings had stopped the Cowboys offense once again and Dallas had to punt. Adam Thielen took the punt at the 11 and then fumbled the ball. Kyle Wilber recovered the ball and the officials ruled it a fumble during instant replay. Dallas scored the winning touchdown one play later. Cordarrelle Patterson also fumbled a punt, but the Vikings recovered that one.
The Dallas special teams unit put the game away at the end when the Vikings went for an onside kick and Jason Witten recovered it for the Cowboys. Dan Bailey hit his only field goal attempt and both PATs while punter Chris Jones put three of his six punts inside the 20.
Coaching: A
Jason Garrett saw the fumble on the punt and was given assurance by his coaching staff upstairs to challenge the play. Garrett challenged the play, won the challenge, and Dallas won the game thanks to that move. The Cowboys also used their timeouts smartly and put themselves in the position to win the game despite going up against a strong defense.
The Dallas Cowboys are now 11-1 and get 10 days to prepare for the New York Giants on Sunday night, Dec. 11. If the Giants beat Pittsburgh this Sunday, they are only two games behind Dallas with four games to go. New York is the only team that beat Dallas this year and a win there could open up the NFC East. However, if Dallas beats the Giants next week, the Cowboys would be one step closer to winning the NFC East.