Cook lifts Vikings to prime-time win
ARLINGTON, Texas — Dalvin Cook did plenty to fortify his hold on the NFL rushing lead.
The Minnesota running back might have had his biggest plays in the passing game while easily outplaying two-time rushing champion Ezekiel Elliott.
Cook ran for 97 yards, including the goahead touchdown on fourth down, and had 86 yards receiving that helped lead to three other scores, powering the Minnesota Vikings over the Dallas Cowboys 28-24 on Sunday night.
Cook’s 183 scrimmage yards gave him the NFL lead in that category as well at 1,415 as the Vikings (7-3) beat a winning team on the road for the first time in almost two years. Minnesota was 0-9-1 in its previous 10 such games.
“Dalvin handled everything great,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. “He played outstanding. Had some unbelievable runs, tough, competitive runs. I think Dalvin believes that he’s really good. I believe that too.”
Amari Cooper had the most circus catches on a night full of them for both teams, including a toe-tapping touchdown grab for Dallas’ only lead in the third quarter.
Kirk Cousins threw two touchdown passes, both to Kyle Rudolph, for just his second victory in nine prime-time road games.
Elliott had 47 yards in 20 carries after three consecutive 100-yard games as the Cowboys (5-4) fell into a first-place tie with Philadelphia in the NFC East.
“From the standpoint of numbers, from the standpoint of where you stand, this was a big game for us, and it’s going to make it that much harder to get where we want to go,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said.
Despite throwing for 397 yards and three touchdowns, Dak Prescott lost to Cousins for the first time after going 4-0 against the former Washington quarterback as a division rival.
“We had to do that,” Zimmer said. “We had to make them be one-dimensional. I wish we had played better in pass defense than what we did. I thought we did a really good job with our run fits and the way that we tackled.”
Cousins, who had 220 yards passing, beat the Cowboys for the second time in eight tries as the Vikings kept pace in the NFC North, a game behind first-place Green Bay.