Clarence Hill: What the Dallas Cowboys need to do to beat the Minnesota Vikings
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott doesn’t have the gaudy stats of year ago when he was considered one of the leading MVP candidate midway through the season.
He has started four games the season —missing five with a fractured thumb — and the Cowboys have a 2-2 mark in those games with him passing for six touchdowns and four interceptions.
Prescott knows he needs to player better and be more productive, which comes with the status of the team’s franchise quarterback with a $40 million annual salary, and he plans to whatever is necessary to help the Cowboys win.
“If there’s a ball on the ground, I feel like I need to get better, simple as that,’’ Prescott said. “As far as doing more, I’ve got to stay within the game plan. But at the same sense, there’s certain times when looking back at it, maybe I should have extended the play, not necessarily ran, but got out of the pocket and try to make something happen more than what was there.“That’s going to definitely come.’’
But any notion that Prescott has been erratic is off base. Coach Mike McCarthy said the Cowboys have zero concerns about Prescott’s play.
“I mean, no,’’ McCarthy said. “I see him every day.“I think his best days are ahead of him. I’m excited to work with him every day and what he brings to the table. He’s our quarterback.“I get the evaluation that we have to go through, but I have zero concerns for him.”
5 Things the Cowboys need to do to beat Vikings:
Defense need to be accountable
Before last Sunday’s 31-28 overtime loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Dallas Cowboys were 195-0 when they had a 14-point lead entering the fourth quarter.
Now, they are 195-1 and it’s not sitting well with the old Cowboys or the current ones. The onus and embarrassment are largely on the Cowboys defense.
“It won’t happen again,” linebacker Micah Parsons said. “If Dak goes out there and gives me that lead again, I promise we ain’t going to do that again. Whether it’s got to come from me, whether it’s got to come from (safety) Jayron Kearse or any other leader on this defense, we gotta anchor in on that and make sure it never happens again.”
It happened largely because the Cowboys couldn’t stop the run against the Packers, who rushed for 207 yards in the game, one game after the Bears rushed for 239.
Parsons said the defense to be accountable to each other and he plans to do his part.
“I just think it’s a collective thing of us not doing our job and executing,” Parsons said. “We gotta trust each other. Trust is the key to everything to where we want to go. We got to trust someone is going to be in the B gap and you gotta trust that people are going to come in the A gap and hold the edge and without that trust, we won’t go far. So we’re enhancing that trust and I even told them, when you see me to the side, you play your gap right, you don’t even have to worry about it.
“I’m going to commit to this team and commit to doing the right thing and making sure its not going to be on me I’m going to hold the anchor for this team.”
Ezekiel Elliott will be back
Running back Tony Pollard has made the most of his opportunities as the starter in place of Ezekiel Elliott in the past two games.
He rushed 14 times for 131 yards and three touchdowns against the Chicago Bears followed by a career-high 22 carries for 115 yards and a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers.
But the Cowboys are excited to get Elliott back on the field and in the lineup with Pollard Sunday.
Elliott, who will play with a brace on his sprained knee, feels strong enough to play.
While Pollard gives the Cowboys juice with his breakaway speed, Elliott’s toughness as a runner and blocker and his attitude were sorely missed his absence, according to guard Zack Martin.
“When I think of Zeke, I think of the identity of our football team, kind of wrapped into a player,” Martin said. “Just, his willingness to do anything asked of him, his physical style of play ... he brings all of that to our football team. It rubs off on guys.”
DeMarcus Lawrence will play hurt
Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence scared the Cowboys fan base this week when he said is dealing with injuries to both feet and his right knee.
Lawrence said his knee injury hurts worse than his feet but one of the foot injuries could be a re-fracture of a broken bone that caused him to miss 10 games last season.
“Yeah, it does connect with last year’s injury,” Lawrence said. “I just think over the [course] of the season, just all the banging and stuff, [might’ve] fractured it a little bit more. I’ll be alright. I got screws in it, so it’s hard to say if it’s fractured or not.”
Lawrence was limited in practice this week but he expects to play against the Vikings and he is needed.
Lawrence is the team’s best run defender.
Lawrence has 42 tackles, five sacks, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
Stop committing penalties and turnovers
The Cowboys continue to be their worst enemy when it comes to penalties and turnovers. They have been a key component in every loss this season.
They were certainly game changers in the 31-28 overtime loss to the Green Bay Packers.
The Packers turned two interceptions into touchdowns and the Cowboys committed nine penalties for 83 yards, including two that thwarted a potential scoring drive in overtime.
Consider that Cowboys have 501 yards in penalties this season and the Vikings have just 377.
“Trust me, we’re focused on penalty prevention, education. We spent more time on it this week,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “The numbers are what they are.”
No losing streak
The Cowboys are in the midst of their toughest stretch of the season with three games in 12 days, starting with last Sunday’s 31-28 overtime loss to the Green Bay Packers then Sunday’s game against the Vikings followed by Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day battle.
A loss against the Vikings would put them on a two-game losing streak and a lack of a confidence heading into a crucial NFC-East battle against the Giants.
There are a lot games left to play in the season and the battle for the playoffs remains wide open but the Cowboys are heading to Minnesota with a sense of urgency. The bleeding must stop now.
“This is a playoff game,” quarterback Dak Prescott said. “You have a team that is what, one loss, right? Then us coming in, coming off of one. We know what this means in the division, we know what this means in the NFC. It’s about going up there, putting our best foot forward and making sure we put our best performance out there to show the team we are in all aspects of our game.”
