Dallas Cowboys: Studs and duds in frustrating Week 10 loss to Vikings
By Randy Gurzi
The Dallas Cowboys fell to 5-4 with a loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 10. Here were the studs and duds in their defeat on Sunday Night Football.
This season has been one of the biggest roller coaster rides ever for Dallas Cowboys fans. They started out the year with a record of 3-0 and looked poised to take the next step after losing in the Divisional Round of the playoffs last year. Then, they dropped three in a row and looked like a team ready to completely implode.
Naturally, that led to them reeling off two more wins, both against NFC East opponents and in prime time. That put them back in control of first place in their division (4-0 overall in the east). But they still needed to prove they could beat someone other than the Miami Dolphins out of their division.
On Sunday Night Football in Week 10, they had a chance to do just that against the Minnesota Vikings. Dallas has had a lot of success against Minnesota’s quarterback Kirk Cousins, who used to play for the Washington Redskins. That wasn’t the case in this one as Cousins and his Vikings got off to a hot start and wound up coming away with a 28-24 win in At&T Stadium.
There was a lot to take away from this game as head coach Jason Garrett and his entire staff will be ridiculed for some questionable calls. On offense, they continued to try and play football as if it were 1990. They wanted to win with power as they kept force-feeding Ezekiel Elliott even though Dak Prescott and his receivers were on fire.
Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore has gone from a golden boy to a punching bag, especially after his commitment to the run — which ultimately cost them this game.
As for the defense, Rod Marinelli and Kris Richard are still terrible at game-planning for their opponents. They allowed Minnesota to dictate the pace and had no answers for anything thrown their way.
With all that being said, we look back at the Week 10 loss and pick the Cowboys studs and duds.