Week 13 game review: Minnesota Vikings vs Dallas Cowboys

A Minnesota miscue set up the next points of the game, as Adam Thielen fumbled on a punt return to give the Cowboys the football at the Minnesota 8-yard line.

To me, this game has all the makings of a trap game for the Cowboys.

After first revealing the issue at his November 2 news conference, Zimmer said he’d been watching film with his good eye and using reading glasses to write down notes in preparation for that week’s game. It was good thoughts.

Dallas took their first lead of the evening with five and a half minutes to go in the first half, courtesy of a 1-yard touchdown run by Elliott. Sam Bradford completed 31 of 37 passes in the game, but he was a checkdown machine all day, finishing with just 224 yards while averaging 6.1 yards per attempt. A hands-to-the-face penalty by Orlando Scandrick also negated an interception of Bradford.

Minnesota (6-6) played without coach Mike Zimmer after he had emergency eye surgery Wednesday.

OUR PREDICTION: I fully expect Minnesota to hang with Dallas for an entire half, and maybe for three full quarters.

“When you have a bunch of guys that work hard, when you’ve got a great locker room with great leadership, it makes my job a little bit easier to prepare for this type of game”, Priefer said. “I’m not laying this loss on reffing, but at some point it’s got to get better”.

The Vikings took a 9-7 lead early in the fourth quarter on a 33-yard field goal by Kai Forbath, but were unable to fully capitalize on excellent field position.

General manager Rick Spielman made the announcement in a conference call Thursday morning.

Minnesota’s third-ranked defense did their fiery leader proud, holding the explosive Cowboys offense to season lows in points, yards (264) and first downs (13). That said, they’re just 1-5 against the spread in their last six games versus NFC opponents.

Keep an eye on crafty slot receiver Cole Beasley (three TDs in past three road games), as well as veteran tight end Jason Witten (second all-time among TEs with 1,072 receptions and 11,768 yards). While appearing in 13 games as a rookie a season ago, the University of Maryland product managed four touchdown receptions in 2015-2016 despite not producing as many catches, targets or yards.

Bradford was sandwiched on the play by defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and defensive tackle Maliek Collins, who smacked his helmet into Bradford’s side.

“I wish I’d never done it”, Bryant said. “After that they were fine”. Morris Claiborne is still out and safety Barry Church is listed as questionable on the final injury report, but Brandon Carr, Orlando Scandrick and Byron Jones will all be suited up.

Neither team is at a disadvantage playing on a Thursday night either, as both last played a game on Thanksgiving, where the Vikings lost to the Detroit Lions and the Cowboys defeated the Washington Redskins.

The Way We Hear It, that is most likely to happen for him next season right where he is – in Dallas – either due to an injury to Prescott or a fall off in his play.