Minnesota Vikings at Dallas Cowboys
Line: Dallas -3
Total: 48
Where: AT&T Stadium
When: Sunday, 11/10, at 8:20 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
Superstar running backs tend to be a fading commodity in the NFL.
This week’s Sunday Night Football game pits two of those rarities against each other, as the Minnesota Vikings (6-3) travel to Dallas as three-point road underdogs against the Cowboys (5-3).
Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook leads the league in rushing yards and Dallas’ Ezekiel Elliot is not far behind.
The Cowboys will play their second Sunday Night Football contest in three games on Sunday, as Dallas beat the Philadelphia Eagles in primetime several weeks ago. It’s a short week, however, as the Cowboys are coming off a Monday night win against the New York Giants.
Minnesota comes into Sunday’s game off a loss against the Kansas City Chiefs — a game that the Vikings led 23-20 late in the fourth quarter. Prior to that setback, Minnesota had won four games in a row.
Dallas is led by quarterback Dak Prescott, who has thrown for 2,380 yards and 15 touchdowns. Taking care of the ball has been an issue, though, with eight interceptions on the season. Prescott’s favorite target is Amari Cooper, who has caught 42 passes for 701 yards and six touchdowns. Cooper has been nursing a knee injury, but he was upgraded to ‘probable’ on Thursday.
Michael Gallup and Jason Witten have also been key contributors in the passing game, tallying 454 yards and 321 receiving yards, respectively. Both players have caught two touchdowns apiece.
Elliot is averaging nearly five yards per carry, totaling 741 rushing yards on 158 attempts. He has scored six touchdowns on the ground and is looking to match a career-best streak with a fourth straight 100-yard game.
Prescott has also shown his mobility, running the ball 27 times for 175 yards and three scores.
Cook is at the forefront of Minnesota’s offensive attack, but quarterback Kirk Cousins has also put up solid numbers. H has 2,217 passing yards and a 16/3 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Stefon Diggs leads the team with 38 catches for 710 yards and four TDs.
The league’s rushing leader has picked up 894 rushing yards on 177 attempts, averaging 5.1 yards per carry. Cook, who was a second-round draft pick in 2017, has nine rushing TDs. He needs just 106 yards to become the Vikings first 1,000-yard rusher since Adrian Peterson in 2015.
Both team’s offenses and defenses are ranked in the top 10 of the NFL. Dallas leads the NFC East by one-half game, while Minnesota is trailing Green Bay by a game in the NFC North. The Cowboys are off to a 5-3 against-the-spread record, while the Vikings are 5-4 ATS.
Dallas is 3-1 ATS at home and Minnesota is 2-3 ATS on the road. The Vikings have covered nine of their last 10 games against the Cowboys.
Cousins has a 1-4-1 ATS mark in primetime games since joining the Vikings, including a 0-2-1 record on the road. His career primetime record on the road is 2-6-1 ATS. Cousins will be without wide receiver Adam Thielen, who is ‘out’ with a hamstring injury.
The Pick: Dallas -3
It’s hard to trust Kirk Cousins in a primetime road game. Meanwhile, Dallas has been quieting the doubters, easily covering the spread in consecutive primetime spots. Without Thielen at WR, the Cowboys defense will be able to lock in on Diggs and put pressure on Cousins.
Elliot will also be out to prove that he deserves to be the highest-paid running back in the league and the Dallas defense will have his back against Cook. Look for the Cowboys to break their 1-9 ATS mark against the Vikings on Sunday.