Volume 3, Ryan Williams, Week 11 2022: Minnesota Vikings vs. Dallas Cowboys 

After last week’s game against Buffalo I had spent the week looking forward to this weekend’s game against a decent Dallas team. 

The day started off well with a trip to the Christmas markets to purchase a bottle of rum for the evening’s game. 

Bad Luck Jim?

Settled in with some decent early kick offs on red zone. When it finally got to that 9:25 window it was Vikings time. Interesting fact going into the game; the last two times Jim Nantz has announced the Vikings were the Buffalo game 2018, at Chicago 2019. The Vikings scored six points in each of the previous two. Both embarrassing terrible Vikings performances. Would today break the streak? 

The Opening Drive

The first drive swiftly ended with a fumble from Cousins as a Dallas player came waltzing through our offensive line unblocked. Little did we know this would be a sign of things to come. This season we have been used to a good opening drive and then nothing for the next three quarters before a spirited 4th quarter comeback. But this was not the case this evening. 

The Dallas defensive line were given escorts to the quarterback all game, not only by Blake Brandel who was playing in the place of the reconcussed Darrisaw but also by rookie Ed Ingram who has now given up the most pressures in the NFL this season. Kirk Cousins being sacked seven times was far too much to be overcome for a flat Vikings offense. 

The Cowboys Game Plan

Our defense struggled with the blocking of the Cowboys line meaning they had all night to find players down the field open for passes and could run the ball with ease. Tony Pollard alone had more yardage than our entire team. They came with an excellent game plan and executed it very well. 

The coconut rum was definitely the highlight of the evening from a Vikings perspective. 

Reasons to be Cheerful 

We have seen this team’s ability to bounce back from adversity and they will need to show it again in a few days against another outstanding defense. Coming out of an awful performance still 8-2 is far better than we had hoped for at the start of the season. Roll on Thanksgiving and Thursday night for some Late Night Vikes action! Please ban Jim Nantz from working on Vikings games (Nothing personal Jim, you’re just bad luck)


Ryan Williams (Club member, author)

Editors: Tommy Beauchene, Richard Dawson