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Thursday Night Observations

I tried to watch the condensed version this morning, but it wouldn't load, so I watched the full version for as long as I had time and then switched to the highlights - admittedly not an optimal way to take in a game.

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(View from my office window at our new place in Lisbon.)

• The Vikings largely kept Ezekiel Elliott in check. He still had 105 YFS, 4.3 YPC, four catches and a TD, but he didn't run roughshod over them like so many teams.

• Try not to start QBs against the Vikings - almost none of them have even decent fantasy games, and Dak Prescott was no exception as he attempted only 18 passes.

• Nonethless, despite seeing a lot of Xavier Rhodes, Dez Bryant managed to have four catches for 84 yards and a TD. After back to back productive games against Josh Norman and Rhodes, Bryant is virtually matchup proof. And Bryant would have had a second TD had Prescott not overthrown him slightly on the 56-yard completion where Bryant had to lay out to make the catch.

• Sam Bradford threw the ball 45 times, spreading it around to Adam Thielen, Kyle Rudolph and Stefon Diggs. Only Thielen was at all efficient.

• Jerick McKinnon ran well, caught five passes (for only 14 yards) and scored on a reception, but had only nine carries.

• The Vikings punter, Jeff Locke, averaged 32 yards per kick (on seven punts) while the Cowboys punter, Chris Jones, averaged 46.2 on six. That's 85 extra yards on the Cowboys six punts, 99 fewer on the Vikings seven. (h/t Neil Parker.) In a two-point loss, that's significant.

• Bizarrely Sam Bradford tossed the two-point conversion on the game's final drive over everyone's head. I have no idea why professional quarterbacks would ever not at least throw it into a crowd and see what happens. (I saw he was hit on the facemask on that throw - should have been a roughing-the-passer penalty - but that was after he released the ball.)