Cowboys’ offense not pretty, but does just enough behind Dak, Zeke
Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott faced their toughest test yet. The Dallas Cowboys rookies found themselves in a hostile environment against the league’s third-ranked defense.
Yet, just as they have done all season, Prescott and Elliott again found a way to get the job done.
It was rarely pretty, and it definitely wasn’t easy.
Prescott completed 12 of 18 passes for 139 yards and a touchdown. His passer rating of 108.3 marked the fifth consecutive game he has had a passer rating higher than 100. In fact, only twice this season – against the Giants and the Eagles – has Prescott’s passer rating been below 100.
Prescott also ran for 37 yards on six carries.
Elliott ran for 86 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. He also caught four passes for 19 yards.
It nearly wasn’t enough.
“Oh, man, we knew it was going to be a tough game,” Elliott said. “We knew they had a great defense. They have one of the best fronts we’ve seen all year. They’re big, athletic. They got good jumps off the ball. We knew we had to come out and limit our mistakes, but we didn’t do a good job of that. Honestly, this is not the best game we’ve played, but it doesn’t matter. We showed up and made the plays we needed to, and we got the win.”
The Cowboys had two turnovers with replay negating a third, and the offense had five back-breaking penalties for 49 yards. They fumbled on a third-and-one play with 2:20 left, too, with a chance to pick up a first down and essentially end the game. Elliott recovered, but the Cowboys had to punt, and the Vikings scored a touchdown to climb within a 2-point conversion of possible overtime.
“It was a hard-fought win,” said Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, who was held without a catch for the first time in 131 games. “It wasn’t pretty in a lot of ways. You just continue to hang in there. …You take them any way you can get them. It was hard-fought win. It just shows a lot about the competitive spirit on this team and demeanor to be able to stay with it and be able to win.”
Elliott fumbled on the Cowboys’ sixth play from scrimmage on a hit by Linval Joseph. Officials initially ruled linebacker Anthony Barr recovered, giving the ball to the Vikings, but replay overturned the lost fumble.
Elliott has fumbled four times this season, losing one. That came in Week 2 against the Redskins.
“I knew I had the ball,” Elliott said. “I knew I had it on the ground, and I knew I had it when the whistle was blown, so I was pretty confident.”
Receiver Lucky Whitehead and Prescott both lost fumbles, with the Vikings converting Prescott’s into a go-ahead field goal.
The Cowboys had a season-low 264 yards, the first time they have had fewer than 300 yards, a season-low 124 passing yards, and a season-low 17 points. But it was enough as Dez Bryant caught a 56-yard pass to the Vikings 1 to set up Elliott’s 1-yard score, and scored the go-ahead touchdown on an 8-yard catch.
This story was originally published December 2, 2016 at 12:35 AM with the headline "Cowboys’ offense not pretty, but does just enough behind Dak, Zeke."