Big Facts: Success Against the Skol

Success Against the Skol

For the third-straight season, the Dallas Cowboys will travel up North to take on the Minnesota Vikings. Dallas has had some historic recent success as they've won their last three meetings in Minnesota (2016, 2020-21) and could win a fourth-straight road game against a team with a domed stadium for the first time ever.

Top Five CeeDee

Entering Week 11, CeeDee Lamb sits as the fifth leading receiver in the NFC with 706 receiving yards and five touchdowns on 53 catches. He trails two other members of the NFC East in Terry McLaurin (737) and A.J. Brown (725), who are currently third and fourth. The top two league leaders in receiving yards are upcoming opponent Justin Jefferson (1,060) and Cooper Kupp (812), who was just placed on IR by the Rams.

Top Five CeeDee Part II

Lamb's performance in Week 10 set new career-highs in receiving yards (150) and receptions (11). He also became the fifth Cowboys receiver to ever have over 10 receptions, 150 yards and two touchdowns in a single game. Joining Frank Clarke (1962), Tony Hill (1985), Miles Austin (2009), and Amari Cooper (2018)

Wolf Hunting Number 500

Leighton Vander Esch needs just seven more tackles to reach 500 on his career. He would do so in just 61 career games played.

Leaky Run Defense

The Cowboys have allowed over 200 rushing yards in back-to-back games for just the third time in the last 35 seasons. Their 240 allowed against Chicago and 207 on the road against Green Bay joins the 2013 and 2020 teams as the only Cowboys defenses since 1987 to do so.

Lockdown vs. the Locksmiths

Dallas has committed just nine turnovers on the season, the fourth fewest in the NFL entering Week 11. However, that number could go up this week as Minnesota's defense has tallied 16 takeaways on the year, second most in the league. Off those turnovers, Minnesota has cashed in on 46 points.

Dak's First Attack Since 2019

Despite the recent success for the Cowboys against Minnesota, none of it has come with Dak Prescott at quarterback. In 2020, Andy Dalton was the starter while Prescott was early in his recovery process from a compound fracture. The Cowboys won that game 31-28 with a game winning touchdown from Dalton Schultz. Then last season, Cooper Rush led Dallas to a 20-16 win over the Vikings during Dak's only missed game of 2021. The last meeting between Prescott and Minnesota came during a 28-24 Vikings win in 2019.

Vikings Connections

Two key contributors on the Cowboys defense once wore the Vikings' purple and yellow. Anthony Barr spent eight seasons with Minnesota and four of them ended in Pro Bowl selections. This season has been his first away from the franchise that drafted him with the ninth overall pick in 2014. Jayron Kearse was also drafted by the Vikings and spent four seasons with the team. This will be his third game against his former team including one while he was with Detroit and last year's with Dallas.

All-Pro Tony?

There are only two running backs in the NFL to have run for a touchdown from 50-yards out or more three times since the start of 2021. The Colts' Jonathan Taylor and Cowboys' Tony Pollard. Taylor was the NFL's rushing leader last season along with being a first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowler. Pollards three touchdown runs over the last two seasons came last season against New Orleans, and this year against Chicago and Los Angeles. Not to mention, he also had a 100-yard kick return touchdown against the Raiders last Thanksgiving.

Trevon Diggs First-Career Shutout

Last Sunday's game against Green Bay marked the first time in Trevon Diggs' career he has not allowed a single reception for an entire game. He was targeted just once by Aaron Rodgers and the Packers defense. Prior to this, there were five games where he allowed just one reception. 2020 against Washington, 2021 against Tampa Bay and three times this season against Washington, Philadelphia, and Detroit.