Daily Norseman
J.J. McCarthy’s first pass of the night on Sunday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys was just about as bad as it could be. Fortunately for the Minnesota Vikings, the rest of his night went signifcantly better.
McCarthy had his second straight three-touchdown performance, throwing a pair of touchdown passes to Jalen Nailor and adding a rushing touchdown as the Vikings won their second consecutive game, defeating the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football in Dallas by a final score of 34-26.
The Vikings got the ball first and turned the ball over almost immediately, as McCarthy’s first pass was tipped into the air by Donovan Wilson and wound up in the arms of Quinnen Williams for an interception. Then, the Cowboys faked a field goal attempt, as star kicker Brandon Aubrey took a pitch on the field goal attempt and ran for a first down. The drive ended with Javonte Williams going in from a yard out to give the home team a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
Minnesota’s offense got on the board late in the first quarter, as McCarthy atoned for his interception by finding Jalen Nailor on a 20-yard touchdown strike to tie things at 7-7 with just over two minutes left in the first quarter of play. The score was set up by a pass to Aaron Jones that saw him draw a penalty for a late hit out of bounds that put the Vikings into the red zone to give them the opportunity to tie it up.
Dallas took the lead back on the second play of the second quarter, as Malik Davis gave the Cowboys their second 1-yard touchdown run of the night. That gave the home team a 14-7 lead less than ten seconds into the second frame.
The Vikings then got a big pass from McCarthy to Jordan Addison, the longest pass of McCarthy’s career. It was a 58-yarder to put the Vikings down at the Dallas 4-yard line to set up a first-and-goal.
It came down to a 4th-and-goal from inside the 1-yard line, and the Vikings went for it. They brought in their heavy personnel, and it looked like a handoff to Jordan Mason. . .but, in the end, McCarthy had fooled everybody, taking it in himself for a touchdown run to tie things back up at 14-14.
The Vikings caught a break on the Cowboys’ next possession, when Aubrey pushed a 51-yard field goal attempt wide to the right with just under six minutes left before halftime, giving the Vikings good field position. They turned that into a field goal of their own, as Will Reichard connected from 29 yards out to give them their first lead of the night at 17-14 just after the two-minute warning. The Cowboys then tied it just before halftime on a 37-yard field goal from Aubrey to make it 17-17 heading into the locker room.
Dallas took the lead back on their first possession of the second half, as they got...
