Cowboys at Vikings: Highlights, score and recap

On Thursday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys escaped with a 17-15 win on the road against the Minnesota Vikings.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Dallas Cowboys were able to push their win streak to 11 games and overcome the Minnesota Vikings’ stout defense for a 17-15 win on Thursday Night Football.

Though the ‘Boys only had 13 first downs in the game and were out-gained 318-264 in total yardage, Dallas was able to outlast Minnesota on Sam Bradford’s final drive thanks to the prior go-ahead touchdown from Dez Bryant.

Holding a 17-9 lead with 2:09 left in the game, Bradford led the Vikings 65 yards down the field and into the end zone on a three-yard score for Jerick McKinnon with 25 seconds left. But Minnesota’s ensuing two-point conversion was no good, with Bradford’s pass sailing about 15 yards too high in the back of the end zone.

The Cowboys probably got away with a blow to the head on the quarterback on that play, but it should’ve been blown dead for a false start on the offense anyway.

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Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott finished the game going 12-for-18 for 139 yards and one touchdown. Bradford — who returned in the second half after exiting with an apparent injury — outplayed his rookie counterpart with 245 yards and one touchdown on 32-of-45 passing.

It was an ugly performance for Dallas, who committed four fumbles and lost two of them. But the defense held when it needed to and the Cowboys found the end zone at the optimal time to emerge with the hard-fought victory.

Highlights

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/804511355910770688

Three Stars

1. Dez Bryant: Bryant was responsible for the go-ahead touchdown to put Dallas up 17-9, and he finished the game with one TD and 84 yards on four receptions. He was targeted only six times, but he made the most of them, including a 56-yard reception that set up Dallas’ first score.
2. Sam Bradford: It was easy to laugh when Bradford’s two-point conversion pass attempt sailed into the stands, but the veteran quarterback did everything he could to make up for last week’s embarrassing late-game interception. He didn’t get the W, but he returned from a gnarly looking injury, led his team down the field with the game on the line, and was one missed call away from getting a crack at forcing overtime.
3. Dak Prescott: The Vikings’ defense deserves plenty of love for limiting the Cowboys’ offense the way they did, but we can’t have two of the three stars go to the losing side. For now, we’ll continue to marvel at how this rookie — even with such a stout offensive line taking such good care of him — is racking up win after win no matter how ugly some of these games get.

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Next Game

Dallas will be facing the New York Giants in Week 14 on Sunday Night Football. They will have to do so on the road in a very hostile environment.

The Vikings’ Week 14 game will be on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars.