Remember the first several weeks of the season when Kirk Cousins couldn't throw the ball into the ocean? Well, Cousins has gone from an NFL laughing stock to a fringe MVP candidate since then, as the Minnesota Vikings have won four of their last five games.
However, one of Cousins' favorite targets, wide receiver Adam Thielen, will be sidelined for the Vikings' Sunday night showdown with the Dallas Cowboys due to a hamstring injury, and Dallas doesn't seem to respect Cousins' ability to beat it without Thielen.
As a result, the Cowboys seem intent on taking away Minnesota's prolific running game this weekend.
“Rule No. 1 is to take their wheels out,” said Dallas defensive lineman DeMarcus Lawrence, according to Mitchell Gladstone of The Dallas Morning News. “If they can’t run the ball, what do they have to do? We’ve got to take their leading rusher out and make them one-dimensional.”
That means containing running back Dalvin Cook, who has rushed for a league-best 894 yards and nine touchdowns over the first nine weeks of the season.
“I played against [Cook] at Florida State, so I know he’s got juice,” Cowboys linebacker Jaylon Smith said. “But we’re looking forward to the challenge of playing against the guy that’s leading the league in rushing.”
Given that Cousins does not exactly have the greatest track record in nationally televised games, Dallas' strategy may not be a bad idea, but essentially taunting a quarterback who has been playing as well as anyone else in the NFL over the last month or so seem dangerous, as well.
Dallas is currently 5-3 and holds a slim half-game lead (one in the loss column) over the Philadelphia Eagles for first place in the NFC East.
Meanwhile, the Vikings are 6-3.
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