Can Minnesota Vikings keep up with the Dallas Cowboys?

Can Minnesota Vikings keep up with the Dallas Cowboys?

A dog in the street. Purple Daily is daily Vikings entertainment. We just want the Vikings to win a Super Bowl before we die. I will ride with this group. Seriously, man. Please. And away we go. Gentlemen, we’ve got probably the last prime time clash for the Vikings this season. There’s no more schedule one, right? I mean, the week week 18 is up in the air, but I don’t I don’t think they’re going to put the old Packer Viking game on. Yeah. Well, unless unless like the Vikings are in a spot where the Bears lose out and the Vikings are winning out and the Packers are playing for the one seat. They will claim it’s not prime time, but they they will claim because it’s a standalone game that the Christmas Day game against Detroit’s a national game. That’s true. That’s fair. But it’s still it’s certainly not under the lights. It’s not like that. A lot of Well, no, that’s a lot of people are going to be watching. So, they do they have a couple spotlights. Good good pressure for old JJ. So, we’re going to get into our official picks here and some other categories for this Vikings Cowboys Sunday Night Football Tilt presented in part by Underdog Decks. That’s right. Go sign up. Promo code score. Play your first $5, get $75 in bonus entries. Cross sport entries, NBA, NFL, NHL. Uh even when golf is still going on, too, which is cool. Uh higher or lower on passing yards, touchdowns, longest receptions, interceptions, maybe an interception one, riding higher for the Vikings and Cowboys game. Uh go download the underdog app. Send me those screenshots, too. I love seeing our our listeners pick up some big time wins. Promo code score ko r at underdog. All right, let’s start with just kind of the overall picture here. Vikings are currently 5 and a half point underdogs for this game against the Cowboys. And 64% of the bets are on the Cowboys according to Action Network with 75% of the money being on the Cowboys. So, a lot of I can’t I haven’t gone through every Cowboys game, but I think a lot of people just like to bet the Cowboys, too. So, I don’t I don’t know if this is special to just this game or if like there’s a lot of Cowboys fans that like to bet the Cowboys cuz they’re America’s team, but a lot of money and bets coming in on the Cowboys as five and a half point favorites here. I’m not surprised at all. Yeah. Home home game. You’re right about the Cowboys. The Cowboys have actually been better for the most part, but the defense is still bad. But like now it’s funny if the Cowboys have a modocum of success. It’s like look out for the Cowboys. Here we go. First take. Let’s talk about the Cowboys. So I’m not surprised. Yeah. Let’s go through some of the intricate details what the sharps are saying about this game via the Action Network primer. This is where we get a bunch of way too detailed information that provides conflicting thoughts and patterns on what might happen. Makes your head spin. So Dallas is 9 and4 to the over this year, the best mark in the NFL. So they their games usually result in more points than is set up for a line. Dallas is also 11-2 to their team total over the best mark in the NFL. Uh in the 13 total first halves for Dallas this year, the first half over is 12-1. So higher scoring, higher scoring, higher scoring. That is one of the best marks to the first half over. It’s the second best mark in the last 20 years in the NFL. Only the Tom Brady 2019 Buccaneers. I think that was Brady in 19. Or was he 20? He might have been. He was 2020. That was like the Jameus Winston Bucks were 14 and two to the over. Uh the Cowboys have been favored in six games this season. They are just two and four against the spread in those games. Since 2021, Dak Prescott is 14-9 against the spread after a loss, including three-2 against the spread after a loss this season. The issue, as you dig even deeper on that, since the start of 2024, Dak has faced a team under 500 off of a Cowboys loss six times and is just one and five against the spread when facing a bad team after a loss. should be a bounceback spot, but it’s not against the spread. So, that’s really that’s in the weeds. Boy, that might that might sway me. Or maybe not. Kevin Oonnell has been the Vikings coach for 15 total prime time games. And the Vikings are just five and 10 straight up in those 15 prime time games, including a really embarrassing blowout to Cooper Rush. Was that a couple years ago? Whenever that was. I think it was like five years. Yeah. Four or five years ago. So 20 Oh, 22. Okay. 22. Yep. Yeah. Uh Dak has liked himself some extra prep time because they played Thursday night. So you get the rest advantage here. In his career, Dak is 19-9 against the spread when on any extended rest. So he now they have like a three-day rest advantage in this game. since 2003. That 19-9 mark against the spread on arrest is the best among active quarterbacks and fifth for any quarterback active or not over that 22-year stretch. Here are the best quarterbacks against the spread over the last 22 years um on Extra Rest. Tom Brady number one, Donovan McNab number two, Eli Manning three, Pton Manning four, Dak Prescott five. That’s that’s actually probably the most telling thing that we’ve seen so far in this primer is that Dak Prescott is very good against the spread when given extra extra time. Uh let’s give you one more here. The Vikings became the first team since 1992 to be shut out in a game and then a week later shut out the opponent. teams on the road in their game after shutting out an opponent are just 21 and 36 against the spread over the last 20 years. So, usually a let down spot there. A lot of conflicting information you’re providing. So, with all of that, what are you most confident in on behalf of the Vikings that I have no clue what’s going to take place now because of all the conflicting information. I’m actually most confident in this that the highlight of this game, gentlemen, will be the matchup of big legs. I am most confident Will Riker eight of 10 from 50 plus with a long of 62. Let’s go. Okay. Brandon Aubrey says, “Hold my beer.” Nine of 11 from 50 plus with a long of 64. Just for context, um Aubrey is is first with the nine. Riker is third. Chase McLaclin also has nine. So, long story short, this could be the battle of the legs. The Vikings are going to And the Vikings are going to duel right back. 18 to 15. Well, then you’d have a situation. Maybe that’s a game-winning kick. I want Yeah, I want to see 11 made field goals in this game. Okay, I got a crazy idea. And this coming from a guy who hates the shootout in hockey. Oh god. But instead of overtime in this game, could we do a field goal kickoff? Yeah. Starting at 50 yards and going back from there. You go back five yards every increment. Yeah. So, okay. They both cash it from 50. Are we And we’re running out the full crew. So, you’re It’s not just kicking against air. You have to They can Oh, yeah. No, no. Let’s go block. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no. Let’s go block. But, you know, OT, give me a break. I want to go cuz I I am not certain that both of these guys couldn’t make one from 70 indoors. Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, these guys are hitting them from 70 in warm-ups. Not like every time, but battle of the legs, boys. That’s what we’re about to watch. Yeah, that’s they they should be teasing that on Sunday night. They the whole week just goofy photos of Will Ranker, Chris Collinssworth, giving the Momes treatment to the kickers. Oh, did you look at that? Oh, Mike. I mean, look at the way he just measures up. Will Ryer, Aubrey, just two guys with big legs. You know, you never know what you’re going to get. You know, is it going to be a game-winning kick? You don’t even need to go for it on fourth down. I think it’s just such a luxury for both these dudes. Luxury. Um, most uh most confident thing for me. So, obviously Cowboys offense insanely productive. Uh, we all know that. But in the red zone, this high-powered Cowboys offense, and this is this is a fine number. It’s not anything to like be concerned about. They’re 16th in red zone percentage with that high-powered offense, right? They can move the ball. number one in yards, third in points, and the Vikings defense this season has actually been very good in the red zone. They have the third best red zone percentage of any defense in the NFL. So, in the deep red, I I I have definitely know the Cowboys will move the ball against the Vikings. But in the deep red, I actually think to maybe Jud’s point, we actually see a couple more field goals than touchdowns. So, I I’m confident in the Vikings defense in the red zone against that Cowboys offense. So, bend, but bend, but don’t break against Yeah, I would say I’m going to point to the I don’t know how confident I am, but pointing at the Cowboys, it’s the Cowboys have such a weird defensive profile and that uh they have the number one defensive pressure rates of any team in the NFL. They get pressure on 32% of of defensive uh dropbacks, but they give up a ton of yards through the air. So, it’s kind of this weird like they get pressure, but they don’t get home because they rank only in terms of like sacks. Uh they’re actually like below average kind of they’re like 20th in the league in sacks. So, they just they can’t convert. Now, it’s it hurts when you trade away one of the great finishers in modern NFL and Michael Parsons. So, if you can deal with some of the pressure, you should be able to throw the ball on this defense a little bit. And this is where I’m looking at McCarthy and saying, “All right, dudes. At some point, let’s rack up some yards. Let’s I don’t need Kevin Oonnell to go away from the run game. I still want stick with some of the principles, but I would love to see a couple big hits down the field.” So, opposing quarterbacks against the Dallas Cowboys defense, have a 109.1 passer rating, and complete 68% of their throws with a 29-5 touchdown to interception ratio. Collectively, opposing teams are basically Matthew Stafford against the Dallas Cowboys defense this year. So, I’m I’m not saying throw the ball 40 times. I’m I’m not saying that McCarthy needs to throw for 325 or, you know, it’s all over for him. But up until this point, through 13 games, despite some of the pressure metrics, opposing quarterbacks have been able to chunk the ball in the air against the Cowboys. And I would like to see some of that happen on Sunday night. So, you’re giving Okonnell a little bit of the uh Okay, turn it loose a little bit here. Just a just a couple little revs and more specifically for McCarthy. There was a couple designs like the he had that one scramble where if he if if he’s in there for an extra beat, he actually has like a 60-yard touchdown to Justin Jefferson. I’d love to see like it doesn’t need to be 10 more pass plays, just maybe like an extra chunk or two that he wasn’t getting in the the previous seven starts. Okay. So, I’m I’m turning up the pressure a little bit. I see what you’re doing. I see what you’re doing. You’re taking the 13 personnel idea. You’re being like, “Yeah, but what’s got to go 11 and then Will Riker comes on from 78 yards.” I don’t know about this one. All right. What are you most nervous about on behalf of the Vikings? I am most nervous about the fact that the secondary is going to have issues with George Pickkins in particular. And here’s why. He is coming off a dog of a performance against Detroit. He uh he was ripped by Richard Sherman. He basically was a no-show for the game. He um he is also he is a mal content and he’s a and he’s very recalcitrant, but he’s also going to be a free agent. Okay. And so this is a now another prime time game in which he gets to come back and prove that for the moment at least last Thursday night against Detroit was a fluke. He is seventh in the entire league with 78 catches. He’s third in yards with 1,179 yards and his eight touchdown catches are tied for fifth. In other words, he’s had for the most part a great year. But his uh statistics against Detroit was five catches, more importantly 37 yards. I think he’s going to come back like a ball of fire in this game. And um I have some concerns about the secondary. It’s interesting to to note uh Seaffort did a video on this uh that in Sunday’s game and he’s right. In Sunday’s game, Jay Ward started a corner. Isaiah Rogers did not start. He was brought in in the nickel. And look, he did play, but the fact is Jay Ward doesn’t start if Isaiah Rogers is playing as well as they hoped or expected. His open field tackling has been an issue. So, long story short, Dak Prescott, George Pickins, I’m concerned. Yeah, I’ll just to add to that real quick because it was on my list, too. I worry about these cornerbacks. Now, the Vikings defense isn’t necessarily predicated on like they don’t put a ton of pressure on quarterbacks. There’s a lot of bells and whistles and right disguises and whatnot, but when Byron Murphy Jr. has been targeted this year, opposing quarterbacks complete 71% of their passes for a 114.1 pass rating, and he’s committed seven penalties as well. It’s been tough. He only has two pass breakups, so it’s just it has not been quite the season. Isaiah Rogers has declined more recently since he had that historic game. And then I’ll put kind of the the hybrid player in that secondary, Josh Mattelis, because he’s been targeted the second most frequently. And sometimes he gets caught in spots where he’s on a receiver that maybe he shouldn’t be on, as we saw against AJ Brown against the Eagles. He’s been targeted 47 times and opposing quarterbacks are completing 68% of their passes for a 107.6 passer rating. And now he’s mixed in a couple interceptions, three pass breakups. Uh he’s not the penalty machine that Byron Murphy Jr.’s been, but yeah, it’s been those guys are definitely this is going to be their biggest challenge almost certainly of the season facing. And CD Lamb has been cleared it sounds like to to play in this game. There’s another deal with both those guys. Yep. So, uh I would say the thing that makes me most nervous is just I don’t think the Vikings can keep up in the shootout. Like if if this indeed goes the over, and by the way, we we see these uh stats of how successful the Cowboys are in the over, which makes sense. Like if you have the number one offense and one of the worst defenses, it’s very likely your scorers are going to result in overs. I just I don’t think that the Vikings are going to be able to keep up with uh in a in a shootout. If the Vikings win this game, it is under. It is a it is a 17-13, which like that’d be a huge win against this offense. I don’t think they can win this game by scoring 28 31 points with the Cowboys. If that’s the case, I think they lose. So, I think if it’s a if it’s a track meet, huge advantage, Dallas. But if if they can be stomped in the red zone, um the Vikings to be productive on offense and continue what they were be able to build on in the Washington game, then I I actually think they have a decent chance to win this game. But if it’s a track meet, advantage Dallas every time. Yeah, I mean, Dallas is averaging about 30 points a game in their last four games since their bye-week. uh their lowest point total was in a win over Philadelphia in week 12, like since their bye-week with 24 points. So, going into Dallas, you’re probably going to have to score at least 24 points on offense. And I would say uh in addition to the quarterback thing, my thing I’m most nervous about is that you are facing the exact type of quarterback that can solve this Brian Flores defense. It’s that accurate veteran pocket passing surgeon guy. And Dak Prescott is that. I don’t think he’s quite on the level of like peak Matthew Stafford, but he’s certainly in that Jared Goff category of guys that can diagnose what they’re looking at. Been in the league for a decade, get the ball out to their weapons, pick at that middle kind of intermediate portion of the field over and behind the blitzes. And also that nugget that we mentioned kind of off the top of the show, when you give Dak Prescott extra time to prepare and the Cowboys have a three-day rest advantage on the Vikings versus a firstear starting quarterback with the rest disadvantage, that is a major major factor. So, uh, that’s that’s one of the things I’m nervous about. We’ll get to our official predictions here in just a moment. The World Juniors are are coming to town. If you’re just a sports fan, hockey fan as well, Jeff, let’s go. Oh, yeah. And this is, and I’ve been saying this for a few months now, this is the best tournament that I think exists annually cuz this is played every year. And for the first time since, I believe it’s 1981, it comes here. The 50th anniversary of the World Junior Hockey Tournament going to be played um at Grand Casino Arena and also games at 3 p.m. at Maruchi. And tickets for all games are available right now. And we’re talking about future stars. We’re talking about just as an example, the first time that Ovkin and Crosby played against each other, it was in this tournament. So, these guys are first round draft picks. It is absolutely great hockey. World Juniorsmn26.com for tickets. World Juniorsmn26.com. Um, get them while you can because this is going to be just an outstanding tournament. Uh Pendleton Whiskey is a proud partner of the Minnesota Vikings and they’ve got these 10-year stadium anniversary bottles uh available at your local liquor store. 2025 Vikings limited edition. It’s the whiskey you want for your Vikings game days. And the spirit behind Pendleton whiskey is it’s not just poured, it’s earned. In Minnesota, nothing is a given. Not the yards, not the wins, not the respect. You earn those things in Minnesota. And this season is even more evidence of that. Smooth enough to sip after a win. Bold enough to remind you of the work it took to get there. Pendleton Whiskey 2025. Pendleton Distillers. Proximospirits.com. Please drink responsibly. All right, dudes. So, the Vikings are five and a half point underdogs. Uh, Dex, you went commanders last week, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. So, you dropped to five and seven straight up. Jud and I both went Vikings. So, we are at six and six straight up. So, none of us are above 500 picking Vikings games this year. Against the spread, Jud and I are each six and six. Declan is 4 and8. So, nobody is profitable. It’s been kind of a rough season. Uh so, we’ll start with Jud. Who wins and by how many? Vikings five and a half point dogs. Uh, Cowboys win. Do they win by a touchdown? That’s the question. Yes, Cowboys win. Cowboys cover. Cowboys win. Cowboys cover. I’m not going to get too caught up in the Washington game. I feel like I feel like we all took a big like sigh of, “Oh, this is okay. Okay, it’s sort of on track now.” Washington, I will continue to stand by this. I don’t think cared. That’s a problem. Dallas will care. It’s a road game. It’s a tough environment. I’ll go Dallas. I’ll take the Cowboys to win, but I’ll take the Vikes to cover. Okay, we’re thread thread little here. Well, we’ll thread a little bit. Will Riker late 782 yard field goal. Go full Raiders like last week who uh everyone had the seven and a half and then they kick a meaningless field goal to cover. Did you guys see that happen that last week? That was crazy. Dave Dave Poor wanted people arrested for Well, actually, I think he wished a very bad thing on Pete Carroll, which was not really sounds necessary. Take a deep breath. Yeah. Uh but yeah, every time number one, I don’t want to be unanimous because every time I think of like we’re unanimous, they the opposite always happens. So, I I will just at least I’ll I’ll I’ll take the points against Jud even though Jud also is picking a Cowboys win. So, Cowboys win, but the Vikings do cover the five and a half. I could see a scenario where maybe the Vikings are down by I could see a back door cover. I could see a scenario where maybe the Vikings have the ball down by seven or eight and it’s all right JJ, you got a chance to do something here. But um I think I think this spread would have been a point or two more if not for last week’s results. So like how much do you put into Cowboys losing on Thursday night to the Lions and Vikings throttling the Commanders? That spread might have been six and a half or seven. So, I think it’s a little deceptive. I’m going Cowboys to win straight up and Cowboys to cover the five and a half. You’re giving you’re giving a good veteran quarterback. By the way, the Cowboys are looking to run the table and make the playoffs here. There’s just so much inspiration for them and the extra prep time. Cowboys have a rest advantage. Cowboys have a better quarterback, a more honed offense at this point. They’re playing at home. There’s just they could definitely cowboy, but um I just don’t see the Vikings going in and winning this game. So, how about Cowboys? It’s unfortunate, but you know what? Just wait till next week’s show when we talk about the Giants game. Vikings win, Vikings cover, Vikings score 87 points in that game. Another tankathon bowl. Oh, the Giants. Ma mathematically though, it’s not even going to be a question because the Giants are But I mean, the Giants are Did Did you guys see what Who’s our coach now? So, Mike Kfka. Yeah. Did you see that viral video of him like awkwardly dropping fbombs every other word? That’s not you. You’re not hard. You’re Mike Kfka. You know, you went to Northwestern, dude. Exactly. Exactly. Al although was it uh was it Todd BS after the uh Bucks lost to the Falcons who I think dropped seven fbombs in like 27 seconds. Yeah, he was not not a happy camper. By the way, I brought up Tankathon. If if the Vikings do lose this game and I and I will say I am much more my number one priority is not tanking games. It is JJ McCarthy looking good. Yeah, sure. Only and and even if you believe that him looking good for a month doesn’t solidify his spot in 2026, I feel like everybody would agree or maybe not everybody that him playing well is only a net positive for the Vikings. Unless you want to fight that like, well, if they miss out on the fifth overall pick versus the 10th overall pick in a non-quarterback drafting year for this franchise, it’s less imperative that you get the third overall pick. There’s going to be a lot of good players available in the first 10 or 15 picks. So, I think getting some getting a grasp on something at the end of the season is valuable. But, it is worth noting Atlanta winning their game last night drops them down the Tankathon rankings. So you could uh you if you lose to the Cowboys, I think you would then well you’d be tied record-wise with the Falcons for the 10th overall pick and if the Bengals lose now all of a sudden you’re climbing even further. So we’ll take it on. It’s going to be tough to climb further than ninth because all of the teams eighth and worse are are three win teams and you have you have five wins right now. And I don’t think you’re going to lose to the Giants. I think you’re going to beat the Giants. Yeah. So now it gets to be a question of can you upset Detroit or Green Bay? Yeah. So all right boys. Well, let us know too in the comments section after you click the subscribe button and the like button hopefully on the YouTube channel if you haven’t done those things already. Let us know who you think wins. What’s the score? And we will see you late on Sunday night for live Vikings vent line right after Sunday Night Football. That’s my bedtime. See you guys. Go to bed, Sunny.

Minnesota Vikings-Dallas Cowboys matchup on Sunday Night Football; Is this the best kicking matchup of all time; Can the Vikings offense continue to have success against a bad Cowboys defense; Will the Vikings survive in a shootout and more on Purple Picks.

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