Five Plays to Remember: Vikes Oust Dallas From NFC Playoffs

The Dallas Cowboys weren’t hot entering Sunday’s Divisional playoff game with the Minnesota Vikings, they were scorching. Their tidal wave of momentum started in New Orleans with a 24-17 win over the previously 13-0 Saints. They ended the year with back-to-back shutouts; dismantled Philadelphia in the season finale to clinch the NFC East title, and ended their 12-year-playoff victory drought six days later with another lopsided win over Philly. They entered the Metro Dome on a 4-game winning streak that felt more like 40. Meanwhile, the Vikings came in losers of 3 of their last 5. And this is why we play the game.

Sixty minutes later the Cowboys tidal wave left them soaked in defeat after a 34-3 loss, Minnesota was off to the NFC Championship Game, and the widespread theory that hot teams win in the playoffs was once again proven unsound. How did it happen? Here are five plays that helped send America’s Team home early:

1Q – DALLAS BALL – 10:59 – 3rd & 14– MINN 38

All week long the Cowboys emphasized the need to start fast. On their opening drive of the game they were well on their way to doing just that. Dallas moved the ball from their own 28 down to the Minnesota 34 with relative ease. Enter Ray Edwards. In what may have been his best game as a Viking, the fourth-year Purdue product was practically unblockable, until a knee injury forced him from the game in the second half. By that point he had already totaled three sacks and made life miserable for Dallas RT Marc Columbo. With Dallas facing a 2nd and 10, Edwards tracked down the speedy Felix Jones, tackling him for a four-yard loss. This set up his signature play of the afternoon. On 3rd and 14, Tony Romo was flushed from the pocket and Ray Edwards was waiting for him. Edwards laid a savage hit on the Dallas QB. Romo fumbled; Minnesota recovered, and Dallas got their first taste of just how ferocious the Vikings defense could be.

1Q – DALLAS BALL – 5:53 – 4TH & 1 – MINN 30

Some people say that Wade Phillips isn’t the right guy for the Dallas job. And those people were given a new round of ammunition at the end of the Cowboys’ next possession. With Dallas facing a pivotal 4th and 1 from the Viking 30, Wade Phillips had a decision to make: go for it or try a 48-yard field goal? Complicating the matter was Dallas’ field goal kicker, or lack thereof. See, kicking field goals has been a season-long issue for the Cowboys. So bad so, that they decided to release former Pro Bowler Nick Folk and sign journeyman Shaun Suisham, himself recently released by the Washington Redskins. Yet, Phillips still opted for Suisham, instead of showing faith in his offense to gain one yard. Predictably, Suisham missed. Moments later Brett Favre hit Sydney Rice for a 47-yard touchdown, creating a hole Dallas would be unable to escape from all afternoon.

2Q – DALLAS BALL – 6:37 – 2nd & 11 – DALLAS 28

If one play capsulated Minnesota’s dominance best, it was this one. In a tough blow to the Dallas offense, perennial Pro Bowl LT Flozell Adams was forced from the game with a sprained knee midway through the second quarter. And with that, the task of trying to contain All-World DE Jared Allen became even more enormous. Compounding the loss of Adams was Dallas puzzling decision to keep Jason Witten in to block Allen—one on one. And the strategy proved immediately deadly. On the next play, Allen got past Witten faster than the Roadrunner gets around Wile E. Coyote. The result was a blind-side sack causing a Tony Romo fumble. Minnesota recovered and seven plays later the Vikings would make it 17-3. Another drive was prematurely stopped and all hope for a Dallas comeback was quickly evaporating.

2Q – MINN BALL – 1:40 -- 3rd & 10 – MINN 8

The Cowboys’ best chance to creep back into the game came right before the half. Trailing 17-3, Dallas pinned Minnesota deep with a 51-yard punt. Starting from their own 8-yard-line, with only 1:51 remaining in the half, Vikes coach Brad Childress was content playing it safe. He ran Adrian Peterson twice and both times the running back was stopped for no gain. Now Minnesota was looking at a 3rd and 10, still from their own 8, and Dallas was one play away from getting the ball back in great position to possibly score before the half. But Chester Taylor took the 3rd-down handoff and scampered 14 yards up field for the 1st down. Another opportunity was lost and the resulting halftime score of 17-3 might as well have read: 177-3. It felt that lopsided.

3Q – DALLAS BALL – 1:14 -- 3rd & 10 – DALLAS 20

With Minnesota still holding a 17-3 lead as the 3rd quarter wound down, the Vikings would deliver the final dagger in emphatic fashion. With Dallas facing a 3 & out from their own 20 yard line, Minnesota dialed up the same thing that work for them all day…pressure. With Romo forced to act quickly he fired a pass toward the right flat, failing to see Vikings linebacker Ben Leber in the process. The play resulted in an interception and four plays later Minnesota would make it a three-score game on a 28-yard Ryan Longwell field goal. There was still a quarter left to play, but for all intent and purposes the game was over.