In ugly loss to Cowboys, Vikings’ Kirk Cousins sacked a career-high seven times

Chris Tomasson, Pioneer Press
·3 min read
In ugly loss to Cowboys, Vikings’ Kirk Cousins sacked a career-high seven times

For two months, Kirk Cousins and the Vikings had been running up victories. On Sunday, he was running for his life.

In a 40-3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys at U.S. Bank Stadium, Minnesota’s winning streak was halted at seven games. Cousins was sacked seven times, the most in his 11-year career, and all came in the first three quarters before he was replaced in the fourth quarter by backup Nick Mullens.

“It was a combination of reasons,’’ said the Vikings quarterback, whose previous high for sacks in a game was six, which had happened four times. “Certainly when you get behind, then you allow a lot more of a dropback game, so that certainly playing into their ability to rush us and play for that.’’

It didn’t help Cousins that star left tackle Christian Darrisaw was lost on the second play of the second quarter with a concussion when he banged helmets with defensive end Dorance Armstrong. It marked the second straight game that Darrisaw left early because of a concussion, and head coach Kevin O’Connell said he won’t play Thursday night against New England at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Darrisaw was replaced for the second straight game by Blake Brandel. But after playing well against the Bills, it was much tougher for Brandel against the Cowboys.

“All credit due to them,’’ Brandel said. “It was a tough game. We didn’t play good enough. I didn’t play good enough. … They’ve got a good front and we just didn’t step up to what we needed to do.”

The Cowboys rushed four players much of the game, and it worked. Linebacker Micah Parsons, the frontrunner for NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and defensive end Dorance Armstrong each had two sacks.

“That’s what they do,’’ O’Connell said. “I thought we didn’t do much. We tried to get the run game going early, and we faced some third downs. … Kirk was under duress, and when you lose your left tackle early in the game, sometimes you can try to move (things) around, and they just kept finding ways to affect Kirk.”

The Cowboys did affect Cousins a number of times when Darrisaw was still in the game. On the third play of the game, Parsons sacked Cousins for a loss of seven yards and he fumbled, with Armstrong recovering at the Minnesota 27.

“I just think there you need to have two hands on the football is where I really look back,’’ said Cousins, who completed just 12 of 23 passes for 105 yards and had a meager passer rating of 64.6.

The Vikings held the Cowboys to a 27-yard field goal by Brett Maher on that drive, and they tied the score 3-3 on a 25-yard field goal by Greg Joseph midway through the first quarter. But after that, it was all Dallas.

The Cowboys continued to harass Cousins throughout the game. Including the sacks, they had 13 quarterback hits on him.

“They’re a good team,’’ said Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson. “They’ve got a good front line. They’ve got a lot of good players on that side of the ball, so I think it was definitely a challenge for us. And we hope to see them again, for sure.”

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