>> This is always a fun day for me and one of the most special days, when you have a great traditional holiday like Thanksgiving and football like we have today with two top teams in the NFC. >> The Cowboys have been very successful on this Thanksgiving Day, their record 20-9-1. They've had a short week to get ready, but they're kind of used to that. >> And their players that have to play well today have been doing that every year. I mean, they're used to playing on Thanksgiving. And the Dallas Cowboys have to be about Troy Aikman throwing the ball, about that big offensive line blocking well, about Emmitt Smith running it. As Troy Aikman told us the other day, he said, "We not only have to do those things -- move the ball, move the chains -- but when we get down there, we have to score points because Minnesota is so explosive." Then on defense, I think they need a big pass rush by Leon Lett. I think they have to get to Randall Cunningham. >> What about Minnesota, their great record of 10-1, first place in the NFC, best record in the NFC? They've had a short week as well. How did they prepare? >> You know, I think that they prepared pretty well because they came out of that Green Bay game last week, and they were fresh, and I think that was the important thing, that they didn't get beat up. And you watch Randall Cunningham, he's the hottest quarterback in football, and we're gonna see him today throwing to Randy Moss and to Cris Carter. That is worth the price of admission in itself. And then of course the running game is Robert Smith behind that very good offensive line. On defense, I think they're gonna have to get a good pass rush, and it's gonna be interesting. They're gonna start -- They're gonna line up John Randle on Larry Allen. Now, that is a great battle. >> The familiar sight of Texas Stadium. And Deion Sanders, this is not familiar. He is on the sideline, will not play today. The decision was made after he arrived at the stadium this morning. And that'll have its effect on both sides of the ball in many ways, John. >> It's gonna have an effect very early here because the Minnesota Vikings get the ball, and we know what they're gonna do. Randall Cunningham is gonna throw that ball up deep to Randy Moss and Cris Carter all day, and playing without Deion Sanders is going to be the biggest problem the Cowboys have. >> Deion's place will be taken by Charlie Williams, number 25. And here's Toby Gowin's kickoff, and it's a short one. Handled by Moe Williams. Williams... Fumbles! And the Cowboys have it! Well, it looked like they had it at the moment, but now the Vikings are signaling the other direction, and so do the officials, so Minnesota gets a break, and the Cowboys miss a turnover. David Palmer gets it back. >> And this is the thing that, you know, you get fired up and your first play is gonna be special teams, and you want to make something happen and you say you put your stamp on this game, and the Cowboys did early. I mean, that kickoff team came flying down the field. >> And good play by David Palmer to keep Minnesota in possession. Randall Cunningham opens at quarterback, and he'll start from his own 20. Cowboys show him blitz. Cunningham taking his time. The hand-off is to Robert Smith. Breaks one and gets a first down for Minnesota. Let's look at that Minnesota offense. That was a good call against the blitz. As we mentioned, Randall Cunningham, the highest rated passer in the NFL, opens at quarterback. This is a good, veteran offensive line. Steussie, McDaniel, Christy, Dixon, and Stringer. And they're big. Smith and Evans in the backfield, Moss and Carter wide receivers. Leroy Hoard now takes Robert Smith's place in the backfield. Cunningham drops. Wheels it outside. That's Charles Evans, the fullback. You don't hear his name much, but he's used effectively. The Dallas defense. They play a four-man front. Pittman, Lett, Hennings, and Ellis up front. The linebackers are off the line considerably. Coakley, Strickland, and Godfrey. And the secondary -- Williams, Stoutmire, Woodson, and Kevin Smith. And Woodson just went out. If they lose him, it is a young and inexperienced secondary. Cunningham wheels quickly. To Cris Carter. And Carter's out of bounds at midfield, or just shy of it. >> And you know with Charlie Williams out there in Deion Sanders' place, Randall Cunningham is gonna throw to that side all day 'cause on the other side they have Kevin Smith. And Charlie Williams really isn't even a corner, Pat. >> I know. >> He's a backup free safety and safety and special-teams player who has to play corner. He's about the fourth Dallas Cowboy corner. >> Woodson is back, Teague is out. Robert Smith is back for Minnesota. And he is throwing it back to Cunningham, the old flea-flicker, and open is Randy Moss and in the end zone, is a Minnesota touchdown. >> Yeah, you knew they were gonna do it, the fans knew they were gonna do it, the Dallas Cowboys knew they were gonna do it. You knew they were gonna do it early, where Randall Cunningham just gets that ball and he just chucks it deep to Randy Moss. That was off a flea-flicker on the right side. Kevin Smith was the defender. He takes a little bite. Here's Kevin Smith here. And you're gonna see him take a little bite there. He looks back, he sees the pitch, and by now it's too late, because Randy Moss, with Deion Sanders out, could be the fastest player in the NFL. >> For the extra point, Anderson, and he hits it, and it's 7-0. Mitch Berger sails it out of the end zone. Here's the touchdown again. >> Watch this play. Here's Kevin Smith. Here's Darren Woodson. And when Randall Cunningham starts the ball and hands off and gets the pitchback, both of these guys come up. See, they're trying to play a cover 2, and they're really playing off of Randy Moss. But watch here is the hand-off. Now watch both of them come up. See, they both come up. Now here is Moss. So he not only beat Kevin Smith, but he really beat Darren Woodson. >> Did you see him turn it on about 5 or 6 yards into that pattern? >> Yeah, and when he turns it on, I don't think there's anyone faster in this game than Randy Moss. >> I agree. Aikman has the Cowboys set to go. Emmitt Smith is deep. And Aikman's going right to work. To Emmitt Smith. And Emmitt protecting the ball, gets it close to the 30. The ball came loose. And I believe Dallas, Billy Davis got it back. Or who is it? Erik Williams. Billy Davis with the recovery. Smith looked as if he never got the ball put away. >> Yeah, he was never comfortable with that thing, and you see just as he goes down there, the ball comes out. His knee didn't touch the ground, so that is a live ball. Vikings come as close as they can to it, and there's Billy Davis ends up with it, like you said, in a slide recovery. >> Second and short. Smith deep. Aikman to throw it. And he goes deep, and he's got a man. Michael Irvin has got it. And Michael wrestles it inside the 30 to about the 27. There's a flag on the play. There might be a face mask at the end of it. >> That was one of the things that Troy Aikman was talking about and we mentioned earlier, that "with a team like this, we have to score points. If it's gonna be a shoot-out, we have to match them." >> Michael is shaken a bit. >> Personal foul, face mask. Number 37, defense. >> Against Jimmy Hitchcock after the catch. >> Jimmy Hitchcock was the corner that is covering. He is here on Michael Irvin. And you see he doesn't bump him in the first 5 yards, so then he can't get a bump. Michael Irvin runs an out and up. That's called a double move. He makes a heck of a catch there. Then when Jimmy Hitchcock went in to get the ball, to grab for the ball, he got the face mask. Look, he's going in to grab for the ball right there with his right hand, and instead of getting leather, he got face mask. >> That's gonna be a 15-yard penalty. >> Watch Erik Williams here. Now, that's the way to use your helmet. Get underneath there. He's blocking against Derrick Alexander, and those first couple of pass protections in a game, you want to set your pace too, and that's what Erik Williams did. >> They wind up, as Irvin leaves the game. Jeff Ogden has taken his place. The Cowboys have it first and 10 at the Minnesota 14. >> That was a great pass pattern by Michael Irvin and a heck of a catch too. I saw him before the game when he arrived here in his car. >> Michael? >> Yeah, Michael. He has a car that he drives just for home games. It's his home-game car. But I've never seen him so fired up as I did before this game. >> Well, you get a home-game car, you got to be fired up. Here's Emmitt Smith. Maybe a yard. Now, as things settle a bit, let's look at the Dallas offense, quarterbacked by Troy Aikman. And since he came back after he missed those games with a broken collarbone, he's been extremely effective. Allen, Newton, Kiselak, Flozell Adams the rookie, and Erik Williams, the up-front people. Emmitt Smith, Johnston, Davis, Irvin -- was Irvin. And he's back. He is split wide to the right, is Irvin. Aikman drops. And whips to Daryl Johnston, who's down after not much of a gain. Here's the Viking defense. They're very quick. Randle, Williams, Ball, and Alexander. And active linebackers as well. Dwayne Rudd, who was sensational against the Packers last week. McDaniel, Dixon Edwards. Hitchcock, Thomas, Griffith, and Fuller in the secondary. Third and 8. They only got a yard. >> Yeah, and this is the situation that Troy Aikman was talking about, that "when we get down here, we have to score points," and he was talking about touchdown points, not field-goal points. >> That's Bjornson on the move. And they get the ball out to Bjornson. There's a flag on the play. There's a penalty marker down. Corey Fuller dropped Bjornson. >> Yeah, and that flag was thrown right at Erik Williams. >> Yeah. >> It's gonna be offensive holding against the Dallas Cowboys. It wasn't a first down anyway. >> Holding. 79, offense. 10-yard penalty. Replay third down. >> That's Erik Williams. He's the right tackle. And we saw him earlier with that headbutt. And you're gonna watch him here. This is how he picks up a stunt. Derrick Alexander was the guy that he headbutted. He came from the inside, he had to pick him up, and he didn't get his feet in position. And when you don't get your feet in position, that's when you have to use your hands or arms, and that's what Erik Williams did. >> Third and 18. >> I'm surprised the Cowboys aren't in shotgun here. >> Aikman back to throw it. Gets it outside to Johnston. And the Moose is knocked out of bounds at about the 10-yard line. Maybe the 9. Not enough for a first down, and we'll see the Dallas field-goal team. >> Yeah, you know, there has to be a reason. The reason has to be that Chan Gailey wants to start this game with maximum pass protection, because what they usually like to do on those third and longs is get in the shotgun, go four wide receivers, spread the defense out. But I think he doesn't want Troy Aikman to take a sack or a big hit early in this game. >> Well, that's one of the secrets to defeating the Cowboys is pressure on Aikman. This is a 30-yard field-goal attempt. Bjornson's holding. Cunningham hits from 30 yards out. Set to kick off is Toby Gowin. Short kick again. It's David Palmer this time. And down he goes. Good coverage by those Cowboys special teams. And a beautiful day in Texas. 7-3, Minnesota leads Dallas. >> Cowboys are in that same coverage they got the touchdown on. >> Screen pass coming from Cunningham to Charles Evans, the fullback. And he's knocked out of bounds by Fred Strickland. >> Tell you, Chad Hennings got in there and gave Randall Cunningham -- and he almost got knocked out of the end zone. Chad Hennings gets in here, and watch him, right after Randall Cunningham throws the ball, boom, he gives him a pop, and Randall Cunningham took about four somersaults backward. And he did complete the screen pass and almost gets a first down. >> They need a yard for a first. >> I think the Minnesota Vikings probably throw more screen passes than anyone in the NFL. >> And very effectively too. >> Yeah, I mean, the more you throw, the more effective you will be. >> That's Robert Smith, and look out. This guy can break them, and nobody's gonna catch him. Woodson cut him down. And Darren Woodson had a strained elbow. You remember he was out for a play in the first series of downs for Minnesota. >> And that's why you have Darren Woodson back there, because if they get this front blocked -- I mean, here's a good matchup right there. You see Randall McDaniel, Todd Steussie coming down. Doubling Leon Lett. If you're going to get through that front group, you have to get Leon Lett blocked. Then if you get by the linebackers, Darren Woodson has to make the tackle. >> Smith. The long-striding Robert Smith picks up about 7. >> You talk about so many good things that this Minnesota Vikings team has, and we just saw two of them when we saw Todd Steussie coming down with Randall McDaniel. I mean, that's the strongest part. The Minnesota Vikings have a good offensive line, and of that offensive line, that left side is the strongest part. >> Steussie and McDaniel, as you pointed out, did a very effective job, a good job. >> And that's the thing. Even Denny Green was saying the other night, he said, "You take a front four that you have to block, and you pinpoint one guy," and the guy they pinpointed of course is Leon Lett. >> Christy, the center, pointing, and Cunningham has the ball batted backwards and batted down. And incomplete, but there's a flag on the play. Cowboys blitzed. It's against Minnesota. >> One of the things about Minnesota today is they're gonna use a lot of two tight ends. Hunter Goodwin was in there on that play, and they also use a lot of Greg DeLong. >> Illegal shift. Two men moving and not resetting. That penalty is declined. Third down. >> What the rule is, is that two men can shift. Multiple people can shift, but you can only have one guy in motion. So you see the one guy going in motion. Now I don't see where the other guy is who wasn't set. >> I think it was his arm, McDaniel's arm. He was pointing. I didn't know that was illegal. >> I don't think so. Usually they have two guys moving. >> Yep. Here's Cunningham back to throw it again. A flag on this play. Moss gets away from one tackler. Gets away from Kevin Smith. >> Randy Moss went from a guy that a couple weeks ago I was thinking was probably the rookie of the year, the offensive rookie of the year. Then I went to thinking, "This guy's gonna be a Pro Bowl wide receiver." >> Oh, man. If he's not, something's wrong with the voting. >> Illegal motion. Number 22, offense. 5-yard penalty. Remains third down. >> Palmer was in motion. >> Now I think he could be the best wide receiver in all of football. And that was Palmer. He was shifting. You're gonna see Palmer is gonna shift from here. You see he's coming in motion, and then he gets back there. And I don't know what they're calling here, unless they said that he didn't set. >> It appeared he was set. >> Yeah, yeah, he can come in motion. They've had two of those penalties, and I didn't see either one of them. >> Four wide receivers this time for Minnesota. Third and 9. Cunningham back to throw it. Good time. And the pass is caught by Cris Carter. And Carter heads for the end zone and scores. No flags this time. The touchdown pass from Cunningham to Carter. >> They put Kevin Smith on defense over on that other side. Kevin Smith usually plays on this side. Cris Carter had three guys surrounding him, and Randall Cunningham has so much confidence in himself and so much confidence in Cris Carter. >> Cris Carter is very good at using his hands. >> Yeah, but watch what he throws into. There's three guys right there, one of them being Kevin Smith playing that side, and Randall Cunningham throws it in there perfectly. But that's just confidence. 90% of the quarterbacks in the National Football League wouldn't throw into a coverage like that. >> The extra point is good. That's Cris Carter. 7:17 left to play in the first quarter. The Vikings told us that they had studied the Cowboys' game against Denver, and this resembles it. >> And that was the same -- That touchdown was the same type of thing Denver did -- spread them out with four wide receivers. >> Fumble! That was Jeff Ogden coming out of there with the ball. >> This is a big day for hitting. I'll tell you, these special teams, on both sides, these kickoff coverage teams are flying down there. >> That's the referee, Bill Carollo, who signals in the Cowboys' direction, and they get a break here. >> We talk about guys -- There's Chris Walsh, number 81. He's a backup wide receiver, but he's a special-teams guy. And he came down there, and he put his helmet right on that ball. >> Right on Jeff Ogden, and the ball came flying out of there. >> Jeff Ogden is a rookie, and it looked like he was getting ready to put it away, but it was too late to put it away. >> So it's first down, Cowboys, at their own 30. Trailing 14-3. And Aikman gives to Emmitt Smith, and he's got some room. And Emmitt Smith breaks into the Vikings' secondary. First down, Dallas. Jimmy Hitchcock and Orlando Thomas brought him down. The Vikings... The last drive -- five plays, 77 yards. And their drives don't take long -- less than three minutes, most of them. >> It was like we were just talking about it. They had Cris Carter. They had him double-covered. Darren Woodson was on one side. Wheaton was on the other side. Randall Cunningham threw it right between them. But they did the same thing, as you brought up, that the Denver Broncos did to them. >> Yeah. Here's Aikman. Lots of time. Open is Billy Davis. To the Viking 30. Dwayne Rudd made the stop. >> One of the things the Cowboys do -- What they do is they take Michael Irvin, and they're gonna put him deep over on this left side, so that opens this middle under here for Billy Davis. You see Billy Davis coming here. The reason that is wide open is the secondary ran off deep with Michael Irvin. So you have a short, a middle, and a deep, and on that play Billy Davis was the middle guy, Michael Irvin doing a great job running the defense off. >> 28 yards on the play. First down, Dallas, at the Minnesota 31. Aikman to Emmitt Smith. And Emmitt slashes across the 30 to about the 28. >> Emmitt Smith was one of those guys that the Cowboys were worried about that had an injured ankle in this game, and they were worried whether he was gonna be able to play. His backup, Chris Warren, is out of this game. I watched him practice on Tuesday, and he looked pretty good on Tuesday. >> Emmitt? >> Yeah, and then Wednesday, when we were out there yesterday, he looked a lot better, and today he's just about back to normal because he can make that cut where he can plant that right ankle and then cut off it. >> Sherman Williams is in the game in place of Emmitt Smith now. And he gets the carry. And Sherman gets down to about the 25. >> And see who was pulling out there? Big Nate Newton. And that's the thing. When you're a running back and you have a guard pulling, you want to get right in behind him. Watch here. Here's Nate Newton. He'll pull out here, and as Sherman Williams gets the ball, as Nate Newton cuts up, he's gonna cut up. You take the guard -- Here comes the guard. Now Nate starts to turn up right there. And at that same point, that's where Sherman Williams turns up and cuts right off the pulling guard's block. >> Third and 4. 4:30 left to play in the first quarter. Aikman this time in the shotgun. >> And with five wide receivers. >> Five wide receivers. Somebody jumped. >> And that's the thing that is really upsetting Chan Gailey in his first year as the Cowboy coach. >> Prior to the snap, false start. Number 76, offense. 5-yard penalty. Remains third down. >> Flozell Adams. >> Chan Gailey calls those presnap penalties. And he said, "We have way too many of them." >> Emmitt Smith is back in between those two trainers and the quarterback. They're working on his right hand. Third and 9 after the penalty. >> Now they have a different formation. They don't have five split out. They have two in the backfield with Troy Aikman in shotgun. >> Vikings -- >> There's another presnap penalty. >> Too much time. >> I think that's gonna be Erik Williams moved. >> Oh, did you? >> Yeah. >> Prior to the snap, false start. 79, offense. 5-yard penalty. >> Right side of the line. >> Right, and there's no excuse for it. You're gonna see it right here. It's Erik Williams here. Again, he's just trying to get back on pass protection. And there's no excuse for the crowd noise. Usually when that happens, say, "Oh, the crowd is so noisy they couldn't hear." Well, when you're at home, you don't have crowd noise on offensive plays. That's just being jumpy, and it's also from missing practice. Erik Williams didn't practice on Tuesday. >> So they set up again in the shotgun. And this time nobody jumped. Aikman fires across the middle to Jeff Ogden, and Ogden is hit and knocked out of bounds as he got back to about the 28-yard line. >> You know, a couple things about this Minnesota Viking is they have great speed -- They have great speed, and they're very good tacklers. Now here's one of the matchups were talking about. On pass protection, if you're going to get them blocked, you got to block John Randle. And that time you saw where Nate Newton started, Larry Allen took over for him after that. But John Randle knocked Troy Aikman down. >> Richie Cunningham this time from about 48 yards, looks like. 47, call it. Cunningham. And that one's gonna drift through good. That's 14-6. >> I know. I think this thing -- We got the big spread on the bus today, and I think we have everything there that they said except Popsicles. I forgot the Popsicles. >> That's David Palmer, and he's still on his feet. Swings it out to the 40. And the ball's loose! Great return by David Palmer, and then the scramble for the ball. >> I think... >> Minnesota. >> I think the Vikings have it, yeah. >> They may have an official in there. >> That's Ron Botchan, the umpire. See him? I mean, he goes flying in there. He's an old football player. >> Played in San Diego. >> Played for the San Diego Chargers. It's right there. Looked like the Cowboys were gonna get it. I mean, if you see that it just rolls right under. If he would have seen that ball, it would have been the Cowboys' ball, and the Vikings came in and outfought them for it. >> That was Darren Hambrick. >> Ron Botchan went in there, the umpire. He went in there headfirst, and he was the only guy out there without a helmet that was in the pile. >> What a return by Palmer. Cunningham changing something. >> Palmer gives a lot of big plays to this Viking team. >> Here's Cunningham back to throw it, and going deep. And he's got Moss. And there's a flag on the play, and Moss has caught the pass and is in the end zone anyway. Touchdown. Just throw it as far as you can. >> This guy is amazing. Randy Moss is amazing. Randall Cunningham is amazing. In fact, Randall Cunningham was telling us last week that Moss just tells him, "Hey, dawg, just chunk it in the end zone." He says he always tells him, "Just chunk it in the end zone." And that's exactly what he does. >> 26, defense. That penalty is declined. Result of the play is a touchdown. >> That was Kevin Smith. They went to work on Kevin Smith. He was in there, and he got a penalty, and Randy Moss still caught it. >> The Vikings have 29 touchdown drives -- if you can call them drives -- this year of three minutes or less. >> This guy is just fun to watch. Kevin Smith knows that he's in a footrace there, and he can't win it, so he grabbed Randy Moss. That was the only thing that he could do, and that wouldn't have given him a chance anyway. >> And the extra point is good. >> That would have put the ball on the 5-yard line. >> I tell you what, you watch these two guys -- Cunningham, the veteran, and Moss, the rookie, and I don't know how you stop them. >> I don't either. And they're so fun to watch. You can put two guys on him. That doesn't do any good because Randy Moss can just outrun them. Randall Cunningham can throw the ball as far as Randy Moss can run, or darn near as far. >> He has two catches for 107 yards and two touchdowns. >> Yeah, I don't like to go overboard on a thing, but I'll say this -- This is the second week in a row that we saw Randy Moss, and I think right now he's the best wide receiver in football. >> The most dangerous, I think, without question. Sort of relates to what we were talking about just a minute ago. Their touchdown drives -- There have been 29 of them of three minutes or less. >> Well, when you have Randall Cunningham just chucking the ball down the field like that, and you have Randy Moss running under it, it's not gonna take a lot of time because unless you have like a 500-yard field, when they throw it 50 yards, that's gonna be touchdowns. >> That wouldn't make any difference. And here's another guy who's a weapon. Mitch Berger, the kickoff and punter. >> This is a fun team to watch, this Minnesota Vikings. >> This will be returned. By Jeff Ogden. And Ogden is hit at the 20. The ball came loose but after he was down. >> I'll tell you, the way he was hit on that, almost everything came loose. >> Mays. >> Mays comes from that outside, and that's what you call a "decleater." When a guy hits another guy and the cleats of his feet on both feet just go right out of the ground, just like that, that's a decleater. >> That's a decleater. You're right. >> It was almost a de-other thinger. >> I hadn't heard the phrase in a long time, but that's exactly what it is. 21-6, and we're still in the first quarter. 2:32 left in the first. >> This Viking team, on offense you can say they have so many weapons, but on defense and special teams they're very quick and they're very good tacklers. >> Here's Aikman. Michael Irvin makes the catch. You know, we give a turkey leg as an award to the most valuable player. Right now I know who gets my vote. This was the first one. Happy Thanksgiving goes with it. Reggie White, when he was with the Eagles. 1989. >> Yeah, that was the first, and that was the start of another tradition that has been a lot of fun for us over the years. >> And we'll have another today. Here's Aikman. Emmitt Smith deep. LaFleur makes the catch and moves the Cowboys up to the 45-yard line. >> One of the things that Troy Aikman was talking about is getting David LaFleur, his tight end, more involved in the offense, and looks like he's trying to do that. But with Troy Aikman and this offensive line and these receivers, they know that when they play the Minnesota Vikings, it's gonna be a shoot-out. But what's happening is the Cowboys are getting down there and having to kick field goals, and the Vikings are getting touchdowns. >> Long-range touchdowns. Emmitt Smith. Emmitt gets around the corner but doesn't get quite back to the line of scrimmage, or maybe he did but didn't gain any more than that. Hitchcock to make the stop. >> And we were talking about this Viking and their speed, their team speed, and they're very good on artificial turf. And then, as I said earlier, they're good tacklers. All of them. They don't have any guests at all on this defense, I mean, any guy that just plays out there and covers and doesn't tackle. Their linebackers are very good tacklers. Their corners are good tacklers. Their safeties are good tacklers. >> They were built for this surface -- artificial turf. Davis goes in motion. Blitz coming. Aikman fires it out of bounds as he was on the way down. Dixon Edwards, ex-Cowboy, was back there with him. >> That was a zone blitz, Pat. This is an interesting thing when you take a defensive lineman -- Now, he fakes like he's gonna rush, then he drops back. Then you can blitz from the other side. You see John Randle fake. He drops back. So he becomes a linebacker. And then the linebacker over on this side becomes the rusher. You see, and here he is. He just drops, and he becomes a linebacker. And then from the left side, the linebacker becomes a defensive lineman. >> Third and 11. Sherman Williams in for Dallas. Aikman has time. Overthrows Irvin. >> That's the thing. You know, the Cowboys don't have that same speed that the Minnesota Vikings have. They don't have that guy. I mean, Michael Irvin is their top receiver, and now with Mills out they're going with Billy Davis. They're going with two young receivers, but they don't have any speed that can match this Minnesota Viking speed. >> So Toby Gowin back to punt for Dallas. First punt of the game. Gowin hangs it high, and Palmer signals fair catch. Makes it at the 10. Just outside the 10. Back at Texas Stadium. The crowd stunned by the speed and talent of this Minnesota offensive team. >> I was just watching Randall Cunningham just walk on the field, and I was thinking of when we talked to Denny Green the other day, how he used a word to describe Randall Cunningham that is so true. He said he's "soothing." And just his walk out on the field now looked very soothing. >> Randy Moss looks very soothing to go with Randall. The draw play. And this is to Robert Smith. And Smith out of bounds outside the 25, enough for a Viking first down. Stoutmire knocked him out of bounds. >> We were talking about how the Vikings use two tight ends. That time they had Greg DeLong in there. And then Greg DeLong comes back, and he gets back in the position as a fullback. And then he becomes a lead blocker. >> Probably the last play of the first quarter. Minnesota, average gain on first down, 22.7. And Dallas, 8.1. 8.1's not too bad. You can see what a clear, delightful day. Temperature in the 70s in Dallas. Very unusual for this time of year. On a happy Thanksgiving Day. Happy for Minnesota so far. First play of the second quarter. Cunningham gives to Smith. Fred Strickland made the stop. Just to summarize what happened so far -- if you can on one page -- Minnesota, three possessions, three touchdowns. Cunningham is 6 out of 7, two long catches, touchdown passes to Moss. Dallas -- three drives, two field goals. Aikman is 8 out of 10 for 123. Good numbers but not nearly good enough. >> No, and the Dallas Cowboys' defensive secondary without Deion Sanders is very average, if not below average. >> Here's Cunningham. Open is Carter. First down, Minnesota. >> Cunningham just stands back there so coolly. And he looks at -- You know, he talks about things, about being cool and have peace and stuff like this. And all those things are true. He looks out there, and he's laughing. This is what the game should be. You should get to this point in your life when you can smile and laugh and have fun in a game. We don't see a lot of that anymore. >> That's true. >> But he's in that zone, whatever that word is. >> Smith. No gain. By Stoutmire and Godfrey. >> We talk about the speed of the Minnesota Vikings. The Dallas Cowboys, with their linebackers, in Dexter Coakley and Randall Godfrey, they have that kind of speed too. Randall Godfrey is playing very well for this Cowboy defense. He's the strongside linebacker now, but eventually he's gonna be the middle linebacker. >> Cunningham 7 out of 8 for 202 yards and three touchdowns. He'll probably put it up again here. Flag on the play as Cunningham goes deep. And Kevin Smith intercepts it. >> I think the flag was before the play, Pat. This isn't gonna count because the flag came out and the whistle blew before the ball was snapped, and it's gonna be against the Vikings anyway. >> Prior to the snap, false start. >> There was a little fracas. >> Number 73, offense. 5-yard penalty. >> Did you see who came out and broke things up between Smith... >> Yeah, here's Todd Steussie here, see, and he moves before the ball is snapped, right there. So when he moved, that stopped the play, the flag came out, and the whistle blew. >> Todd Steussie is playing at about 90%. He hurt his knee earlier this year. But at 90%, he's still one of the best offensive tackles in the league. Here's Cunningham. To Smith. Taken down by Leon Lett. >> You were talking about who came out. Was it Deion Sanders? >> Yeah, I was about to say, "Look who broke it up." Here comes Deion Sanders, bad toe and all. Peacemaker. >> Whatever you do to help. He's proved one thing, like I said earlier, you can be the best in football, but you can't play with nine toes. >> No. Especially -- They call it a great toe. I call it a big toe. >> Well, you never know how much you use that big toe or great toe until you hurt it. >> Here comes another blitz by Dallas, and Cunningham is down. I wonder if that one's gonna be played under protest. >> There are no protests in the NFL that count. There are protests, but they don't count. They never change anything. >> Dallas had nobody deep. They rushed 11, and the ball by Berger goes all the way to the Dallas 1. >> And that's what Chan Gailey was talking about. He lost his punt returner in Deion Sanders. Kevin Smith was gonna be the punt returner. That's a turducken, Pat. >> You'll explain that, I hope. Emmitt Smith. Out to about the 6. A little bit of running room. >> We were talking about that punt return, and this is one of the chances that the Cowboys were gonna take. What they did is they put 11 men up, and they didn't have anyone back as a return guy. >> And then Berger went ahead and got off a good punt, and the Vikings alertly got down and downed it at the 1. With that run -- Well, I'll get to it in just a second. Here's another run by Emmitt Smith. And he spins outside the 10. That's close to a first down. >> Here it is, Pat. Here's the thing. You see they have 11 men up here. They have no return guy back here at all, so they're counting on getting a rush and making Mitch Berger make a bad punt. And when Chan Gailey talked about this, he said the thing that you worry about is that they get down there like Ramos McDonald does right here and stops the ball before it gets in the end zone. But Mitch Berger made a heck of a kick. >> He sure did. Emmitt Smith just passed Jim Brown into fifth place on the all-time rushing list with that run that got the first down for Dallas. Aikman has Davis in motion. Smith behind Newton, and Emmitt slashes into the secondary. Emmitt Smith has got another Dallas first down. >> Sometimes it's smart when you leave your big offensive guard who's pulling there, and that's what happened. As we said, it was that same play earlier that we saw where Nate Newton pulled. But Emmitt Smith started to see Nate Newton pull to the right, and then when he pulled, he just left him, went back to the other side. Watch him. Here's Nate Newton. He's gonna pull to the right. It's a counter play. But Emmitt Smith says, "I see something back here to the left that looks a little easier," and then he outran it for the first down. But watch right here, the old stiff-arm. That's a stiff-arm that came very close to being a choke. >> He got a good block from his fullback, Moose Johnston. Two tight ends. Aikman throws quickly. Pass is caught by Irvin. Fumble! And Minnesota has it. A flag on the play. Back at the line of scrimmage. >> That was a heck of a throw by Troy Aikman, though, Pat. He was off balance and throwing. The penalty is going to be against the Minnesota Vikings, so the Cowboys will get the ball back. Sometimes you get those fumbles, and I think that Michael Irvin just had one by trying too hard. >> Offsides. Left defensive tackle lined up in the neutral zone. >> That's Jerry Ball, the left defensive tackle. >> 5-yard penalty from the previous spot. First down. >> And he's awfully close to lining up on every play offsides. >> Well, what Jerry Ball does -- and the defensive tackles of the Minnesota Vikings are always trying to take as much of the football as they can. But the neutral zone is the length of the football, and they can't get any part of their head over the football. >> And he's very close every play. But Jerry Ball's playing very well for Minnesota. >> Especially on first and second down against the run. >> Aikman. Irvin. Michael gets up to about the 34. >> We talk about screen passes, and usually screen passes are run to running backs or guys out of the backfield. That was a screen pass that was run to a wide receiver. Michael Irvin was lined up out here as a wide receiver on the right side. He just stepped back, the line came down and got in front of him and formed a screen, and he just went down the sideline. >> Jason Fisk checks into the Minnesota defensive front. Two-tight-end setup for Dallas. First down. Aikman drops. Here comes Ball in a hurry. Just got rid of it. >> That's the thing. And there was another screen, a second screen in a row. But you have to block those inside guys. You just can't let them -- even if you're gonna leave and get out on a screen, you have to block that inside guy first. Especially where Jerry Ball -- See how close he is to the ball? >> He's offsides. >> He looks like he is over the ball there again. But now watch, when he comes, you have to get him blocked. You just can't let him go. And they just give him a little bump, and then they let him run right through. Jerry Ball ran right through, and Troy Aikman had to throw the ball before he was ready. >> Second and 10. Here's Aikman back to throw it. Throws it quickly. Had his man open. There's a flag on the play. It was Billy Davis who had the ball on the money but dropped it, but there's a flag on the play. That's why you always want a receiver to catch a ball with his hand 'cause anytime he lets a ball get that close to him, it can hit his pads, like it did. >> Illegal contact. Number 57, defense. 5-yard penalty from the previous spot. Automatic first down. >> Dwayne Rudd. >> Let's go back to the one that Michael Irvin dropped, Pat, earlier. Remember, sometimes, I said, you try to hard. Michael Irvin dropped that ball -- >> Forgot he had the ball. >> I know. He tried to stiff-arm and forgot he had the ball. And the Vikings got that ball. Luckily there was a penalty against the Vikings. >> This is a first down after the penalty. Illegal contact called against Dwayne Rudd, and the Cowboys get a first down and a break. At their own 39. >> That's the second break they've had on this drive. >> Two tight ends again. Emmitt Smith. No place to go for Emmitt this time. Lost a couple. >> You know, Pat, it's interesting. You look down here on the Minnesota Viking bench, and you talk about how Randall Cunningham really is a different guy and how he's at peace with himself and all this stuff. He's just sitting on the bench all by himself. There's not another guy in the picture. There's no teammates around. There was no coaches talking to him. That's Brian Billick right now, who is the offensive coordinator, who just came up and started to talk to him. But I was just looking down there, and he was just like he's sitting on a bench in the park. >> Yeah. Eating a few chocolates. Here's Aikman with a lot of time. And misses Eric Bjornson. Bjornson was cutting across. >> Watch John Randle there. It looked like the Vikings were trying to call time-out, and someone yelled time-out, but the officials didn't see it. And half the Vikings -- especially, see Ed McDaniel is trying to call time-out right there, but the officials -- and it's only a time-out if the officials see it. The officials didn't see it nor call it, so it's not a time-out. >> So it's third down and about 12. 8:19 left in the second quarter. Here comes a safety blitz by Minnesota. Aikman thought Davis was going deep. Pass comes between Irvin and Billy Davis. Nobody there. >> Either that or Troy Aikman was just throwing that one away because the Vikings are getting after him now. Like I said, the Cowboys had a couple of breaks on that one, and I think the fact that they're able to punt this thing away is a break. >> It's Toby Gowin. And David Palmer back deep for Minnesota. Gonna get a chance to do something with this one. First man misses. Look out. Palmer. And he's finally chased out of bounds. David Palmer. And they keep telling us he can make things happen. >> And he does. In every game I've ever seen the Minnesota Vikings play, David Palmer has a big play or two. The only guy that was close to catching him and almost did was Sherman Williams. >> And he was closing on him. >> If he weren't there, that would have been a touchdown for Palmer, but there is a flag on the play anyway. >> And the Minnesota players are standing way back close to where Palmer fielded the ball. >> And everyone else is walking back towards that area. >> Yeah. >> The referee is pointing towards that area. We have some pretty good indicators. >> Personal foul, unnecessary roughness. Number 83 of the receiving team. During the kick, he blocked a man while he was out of bounds. It'll be a half-the-distance penalty. >> Robert Tate. >> You see that's Robert Tate right there. Now... >> I want that turkey at my house. Cris Carter drags both feet and makes the catch in bounds. >> You know, one of the things that the Cowboy defense, because they don't have Deion Sanders, they have to really change all their defenses, and they're playing a lot of what we call cover 2, where they have the two safeties deep and the corners up. And it's a totally different defense than they've been used to, and what it does is, for the most part, it takes their safeties out of the game, especially Darren Woodson. Now he's up here close to the line of scrimmage on this play. In fact, he looks like he's gonna blitz. Still looks like he's gonna blitz, and he is. And he makes the play. >> Robert Smith tried to get out of the trap. Darren Woodson faked blitz two or three times and finally did come. >> Yeah, because when they play the cover 2 and he has to be the safety, he can't do these kinds of things. They realize that, and they realize that they have to get him up around the line of scrimmage, and that's exactly what they do. They bring him from the outside. And that's not bad because if it's a pass, he's gonna be a pass rusher. If it's a run, he just comes right down the line like he did there, unblocked. >> Hoard has replaced Smith for Minnesota as the runner. >> And now you see how deep these safeties are. >> Cunningham has time. And incomplete. Intended for Cris Carter. Charlie Williams covering him. >> And you see what happens. Here's what I'm talking about in the cover 2. Because they don't have Deion Sanders here, they're putting their corners up and keeping their safeties deep. Now, that is an easier thing to run in there against because you take Darren Woodson, who is like a linebacker and who is big against the run, you're making him play 15 yards deep, and that is not an effective thing for this Dallas Cowboy defense. >> Third and 14. Three wide receivers for Minnesota. And Cunningham comes out of the pocket and fires incomplete, out of bounds. >> The Cowboys got what they needed when they blitzed Darren Woodson, that that was the thing. You need something to change the momentum. Need something to change the game, and a blitz will usually do it, and that's exactly what they did. Then they got the Minnesota Vikings in third and long, and then they could play their coverage and get a little push. >> Kevin Smith goes back to receive the punt from Minnesota. Mitch Berger, whose first kick was 65 yards, has a tremendous average, particularly the last couple of weeks. He has really been kicking the ball -- and this one is not his best, as it takes a sideways bounce and goes out of bounds. First and 10, Cowboys, at their own 45. 21-6, Minnesota leading. Aikman drops. Aikman hits. Billy Davis. >> One of the great battles out there is Larry Allen and John Randle. And Larry Allen, we know he's so big and strong, but he's also showing, against John Randle, his quickness. Larry Allen may be the strongest guy in the NFL. He's bench-pressed 600 pounds. And then when he goes against Randle out there, he has to use that strength, the 600 pounds, but he has to use that speed because John Randle is one of the quickest defensive linemen in football. >> First and 10. Emmitt Smith, the ballcarrier, knocked backward by Ed McDaniel. >> John Randle is out there talking to Larry Allen. Larry Allen doesn't pay any attention to him. He just walks away from him. So all that John Randle is doing -- and Randle's a big talker anyway. >> Every play. >> All John Randle's doing is talking to his back. Watch him. The play is over now. He gets one more shot, and he just starts walking away. Look at John Randle. He's just carrying on, carrying on, carrying on while Larry Allen's back in the huddle. >> Didn't even see it. >> I'll bet he heard it, though. >> On second down, Aikman throws quickly outside. Incomplete. Billy Davis, the intended receiver. Jeff Ogden has been taken to the locker room for a contusion in the right shoulder. X-rays being taken. Jeff has been returning kickoffs. Maybe the fastest of all the Cowboys. With the exception of Deion Sanders. >> Yeah, and he's the rookie wide receiver that, because of the injury to Ernie Mills and because of Deion Sanders' injury, was going to play a lot more today, especially in this situation here when they'd go three, four, or five wide receivers. >> Shotgun formation. For Michael Irvin. Incomplete. >> That was a good read by Troy Aikman. I think the ball was thrown a little behind Michael Irvin, though. It looked like he had a step on the defender, and the ball was thrown back at his left shoulder. Watch Aikman. He's reading there. He makes a good read there, but he did throw it behind Michael Irvin. >> And that's unusual for Aikman. >> Because usually, I mean, the big thing about Troy Aikman is he's so accurate, and he usually hits that receiver right in stride. Had he hit Irvin in stride, that would have been a first down. >> Toby Gowin back to punt it. Into the end zone and out. They'll start from the 20, the Vikings. That's Viking running back -- excellent running back -- Robert Smith, who has a sprained right knee and will not return. And that's gonna hurt the explosiveness of the Minnesota attack. >> Yeah, because they have Leroy Hoard in there now, and Leroy Hoard said the other day, "If you need a yard, I'll get you 3. If you need 5 yards, I'll get you 3." >> [ Chuckles ] What you're saying is that Leroy doesn't have a whole lot of speed. >> No, but he'll pound it in there for 3 on you. >> No matter what you need. Here's Cunningham faking to Hoard. And dropping it off to Leroy Hoard. Hoard is a strong runner. And with that last little surge, he got close to a first down. >> And the Vikings have to continue to run even though they don't have Robert Smith, because they can't become one-dimensional, 'cause that's what the Cowboys want to do. The Cowboys wanted to take away the run, make them one-dimensional, and then just go after Randall Cunningham in the passing game. Now with Robert Smith out, the Vikings can't let them do that just because of an injury. >> Two tight ends, one of them DeLong, and he stays in to block. Hoard, behind DeLong, gets the first down. >> See? That's exactly what I was talking about there. It was like second and 1. The Vikings needed 1. They gave it to Leroy Hoard, and he got them 3. >> Leon Lett had been getting a rest. >> I don't know. I don't understand that, why he'd been getting a rest on a change of possession. His offense had just been out there on the field. When you've got the best defensive lineman on your team, one of the best in the league, I think he has to be in there every play. >> That would make sense. Coakley blitzed from the outside. This is DeLong, who is finally knocked out of bounds by the Cowboys after he got back to the line scrimmage, and that's about all. You see what Leon Lett does when he's in there? He can just collapse that whole side. He's just right here, and he can just come, and his push, watch what it does to those purple guys. It just pushes that whole line right back into Randall Cunningham because he has such a great surge. Here's Leon Lett here. And watch him, he just takes on 700 pounds of guy and still gets penetration. David Dixon is 350. Korey Stringer is 350. He took that 700 pound of guy right back to Randall Cunningham. >> They need 10 for a first. There's a flag on the play as Cunningham's gonna scramble out of there. Chased and knocked backwards is Cunningham, and he pops back up like no one hit him. >> I'll tell you, he was hit. That was Randall Godfrey. >> Offsides. Number 98, defense. 5-yard penalty. Replay second down. >> 98 is Greg Ellis. But I'll tell you, did Randall Godfrey hit Randall Cunningham. Holy moly. You have to do -- You have to have more respect than that for a guy with the same first name. >> [ Chuckles ] >> I'll tell you, Randall Cunningham is so rubbery, though, you see what he did? He took that hit, and he just bounced right back up. It was one of those things -- "You can't hurt me." >> Randall fires incomplete. Looking to his left. >> And maybe that hit by Randall Godfrey, maybe that took a little something out of Randall Cunningham, because that ball went awry on him there. >> Looking at Andrew Glover. Here it is again, that hit. >> He throws that ball, and watch him unload. And he caught him right under the chin. >> If he hadn't had a chinstrap, the helmet would have gone flying. >> That was one of those things that was very, very close to illegal, being helmet to helmet. But it was right underneath the helmet, in the chin. >> Third and 5. Cowboys are up on the line of scrimmage. Looking like they were gonna blitz, and Cunningham calls a time-out. >> You wonder about that shot, if it didn't -- I know that Randall Cunningham, like he's saying that he's okay, and I know that he's tough and that he did bounce up, but that can still take a little out of you. >> 3:06 left to play in the first half. 21-6, Minnesota leading. Third and 5. This time the Cowboys don't show blitz. And they don't blitz. And Cunningham throws incomplete to Moss, and they're saying he was interfered with, or he is saying, "They were draped around me." But no flag. >> He's out here on Charlie Williams, and Charlie Williams has good coverage. He's gonna start right here on a slant. You see Charlie Williams takes away the inside. Moss still gets in, and then Charlie Williams comes around from the back side and knocks it down. That's good coverage there. >> Berger to punt it. Kevin Smith deep. >> I think the Vikings ought to go back to that stuff that Randy Moss does so well, just chunking it deep. >> Kevin Smith fields it. He hasn't returned kicks in a long time, since his college days. Only one as a pro. Happy Thanksgiving one more time. 21-6, Minnesota leading. 2:52 left in the first half. Aikman fakes. Right through the hands of David LaFleur. >> I'll tell you one thing, Troy Aikman made a bad pass, the last time they had the ball, to Michael Irvin, but he's also had about three or four dropped on him today. >> Just right through the hands. >> He's had about three or four of those right through the hands. Then he had Billy Davis once where he caught it and it hit his shoulder pads. But this one here is one. I mean, that's a perfect pass. Professional receivers have to catch those kinds of passes. College receivers. High school receivers have to catch it. >> Second and 10. Good protection. And again. >> Holy moly. What the heck's going on? >> Pass right on the money and dropped. >> This is something. And it's not the type of thing where these guys are intimidated. I think they're a little anxious because they're behind. Troy Aikman is getting good pass protection, and he's throwing the ball in there. The ball is right there. Again, Michael Irvin brought that thing in a little close to his pads, the ball hit his pads and bounced right out. Chan Gailey is saying, "What in the heck did these guys eat for a pregame meal today?" >> Six dropped passes by the Cowboy receivers so far. Aikman again. This time he goes deep. And this time Patrick Jeffers is into the end zone. Touchdown. Two drops and 6 points. >> And Troy Aikman stuck with it, his line stuck with it in their pass protection. And this is a guy that Troy Aikman was telling us about a couple weeks ago, a guy that he really likes. They didn't have him in training camp. They got him from the Denver Broncos just before the season started. And Troy said every week after week after week, they're getting better. >> That was Hitchcock chasing him, and he wasn't closing ground. >> And the Cowboys I think were going to go for 2. Maybe they're gonna take a time-out here. >> I think they are. Patrick Jeffers. Went to high school in nearby Fort Worth. >> I'll tell you, he just runs right by Hitchcock, and then he puts some more speed, gets a little more separation. They'll probably be talking about that coin flip. The last coin flip controversy that I remember was the old Dallas Texans. >> Abner Haynes. >> Abner Haynes. Hank Stram was the head coach. >> They're going for 2. Emmitt Smith is the deep back. Moose Johnston. And they don't get the 2. 21-12. >> Watch on the touchdown here, Pat, where Troy Aikman, he started to throw to the right. That wasn't a pump fake. He started to throw, and he stopped and brought it back and then went to the other side to Pat Jeffers. >> And a perfect strike. >> That is what you call a quarterback and his awareness in the pocket. Here's the 2 points. I don't think that, if you have to get in the end zone, I don't think that Moose Johnston is the guy to do it. >> Robert Griffith made the stop. >> And Robert Griffith, I think, is one of the most underrated players in the league. Every time we do a game, he makes big plays. >> There is Denny Green, the coach of the Vikings, who... I guess you just have to say he's done a heck of a job. Here's Robert Smith. And he's not even limping, and they say he won't return. >> Yeah, but you know that he has a history of bad knees and he has a history of knee surgery and those things, and sometimes you get something and you just know. There's Deion Sanders, who the Cowboys, I mean, to say they miss him would be so obvious, but when a guy does as many things as he does, you miss him in a whole lot of areas. >> Gowin's kickoff goes to Palmer. David Palmer. Look out for this guy. There's a flag on the play, and Palmer's gone. They're not gonna catch him, but they're gonna bring it back, I'm sure. George Teague was chasing, and they're pointing in the other direction, the Cowboys are. >> And that's the second time that Palmer had a big, big return that's gonna be brought back. Number 81 -- there he is -- Chris Walsh. He was back there doing the arguing. >> They may have to get David Palmer some oxygen. >> Illegal block in the back. Number 81 on the receiving team. >> That's Chris Walsh. >> 10-yard penalty. >> Chris Walsh is from Stanford. In fact, Chris Walsh played for Denny Green when Denny Green was the head coach at Stanford. And he is really upset. Chris Walsh is saying that he didn't do that. Or maybe when he started hitting himself between the 8 and the 1, he's saying that "I did do that, but I'm sorry." >> I don't think you hit yourself when you're sorry. >> Right here you're gonna see Chris Walsh is right there. And you see that he was in position to hit from behind, and that his only decision was to either block him or just run right by him. >> 21-12, Minnesota leading. Leroy Hoard is the running back. But Cunningham's going right to work again. The ball is deflected by Greg Ellis, the Cowboys' number-one draft choice last year. There's been a continuing controversy locally about whether the Cowboys should have taken Randy Moss, and took Greg Ellis. They had an earlier shot, and they didn't take it. But they're happy with Ellis. >> Greg Ellis got that ball on the left side of the Minnesota Viking offense, and last week against the Green Bay Packers, Randall Cunningham had two or three batted on that same side. When he has the ball batted, it seems like they happen when he throws to his left. >> Cunningham's gonna drop again after the fake to Hoard. The pass is caught. By Andrew Glover. 2:00 to go in the first half. Back at Texas Stadium. Pat Summerall with John Madden. 21-12, Minnesota. Minnesota struck quickly. >> And then, really, on those two kickoff returns, they've lost 166 yards on those two kickoff returns, and one, of course, was a touchdown, and the other one could have been, so it could have been 166 yards and 14 points. >> And Minnesota. Andrew Glover got the dropsy. That was a first down. Glover just made a good catch the play before. >> And that was a thing I think that Denny Green was talking about and Randall Cunningham was talking about was they don't have Jake Reed, so their three wide receivers aren't gonna be such a big thing, so they're going to use more two tight ends like they're using today. The tight end, Andrew Glover, is kind of, in essence, taking the place of Jake Reed as a receiver in this offense. >> Cris Carter is left, split wide. Here comes a Cowboy blitz. They won't get there. The pass is incomplete, and no flag. And that's hard to believe. >> Omar Stoutmire was there. It looked like to me that Andrew Glover just fell down. I think Glover was saying that he was pushed or knocked down by Stoutmire, but it looked like, just from here, that he was just running -- here he is right here -- and he just fell down. Maybe he got tripped. Now, tripping, incidental tripping is not a penalty. So if it were a trip, that's not a penalty. If he had his hand on with a push, that would have been a penalty. >> So it's third and 10, 1:51 left. Dallas has two time-outs left and so does the Vikings. So do the Vikings, I should say. Cunningham, incomplete. Woodson came in to break it up. And here's a flag this time. Woodson's almost playing with one arm. >> Yeah, but you talk about tough guys and you use the word "warrior" and all those things, and sometimes you throw it around loosely, but with Darren Woodson, you don't. >> Number 28, defense. Automatic first down. >> This is close. >> He's just coming up here, and you see that he comes running in there. Now, they have to call his right hand there. You see the ball is in the air. Now watch his right hand. You see the right hand or arm hits Carter before the ball gets there. He got the left hand around in front, which was good. It was the right hand in the back that they caught. >> Cowboys showing blitz again, and here they come. Cunningham fires deep. This time it's Matthew Hatchette who was split wide to the right. >> That was a guy that Denny Green said was going to be their third wide receiver this year had they not drafted Randy Moss. But they really liked him a year ago, and it was gonna be Cris Carter, Jake Reed, and Matthew Hatchette. And then he said when they got Randy Moss, that kind of put Matt Hatchette back one, so now instead of being the third wide receiver, he was the fourth wide receiver. Now with Jake Reed out, he again becomes the third wide receiver. >> David Palmer now is the deep back behind Cunningham. Walsh goes in motion. Steussie backed up too soon. Let's see who it's against. >> We see more and more of these presnap penalties at this point in a season. You shouldn't have these presnap penalties this late in a season, but it seems like every week you see like five or six per game. I think that's what the average is. Five or six per game. >> It's against Dallas. >> Remember the new rule. >> Number 78, defense. 5-yard penalty. >> The new rule that they put in -- If the defense moves and makes the offense move, that then the penalty is against the defense. >> It was Kavika Pittman who jumped, and then Steussie started to back up. >> Yeah, they used to say that a guy could jump and then get back, and then they would call it on the offense if the offense moved. Now if the guy jumps and makes the offense move, they call it against the defense. >> 1:40 left. Leroy Hoard back in the game now, the deep back. >> Cowboys are in a prevent. They have a three-man line. >> Cunningham to work. And here he goes running. And dives down past the line of scrimmage. Actually picked up about 4 yards. >> Very close to a first down. And again, with the three-man line, he sees that, because when you rush three, you have a guy up in the middle and a guy from either side, and he had lanes. So you got this, this, and this, and you have lanes in there to run for first downs. >> Third and about 1 is all. >> And he did it right there. He saw that lane. You see that? That's just what I was talking about, is you have a guy in the middle and two guys outside, and you have a lane to run in anytime you want it. See, now, here's what he sees. He sees a guy here, a guy here, and a guy here. So he knows that he has a lane right here and he has a lane right here, and he decides to take this one behind Randall McDaniel. >> Whichever way the guy over the center takes, he goes the other way. >> And the three-man line with the linebackers off will always give you that. The Cowboys are in a four-man line now. >> And Cunningham throws outside to Carter. Still on his feet. Cunningham chased out of bounds at about the Cowboy 27. >> How 'bout a face mask? >> And he said, "How 'bout a face mask?" >> Yeah. >> How 'bout it? >> Cris Carter is one of those guys that is totally into the game, and he's in such good shape. He really believes that he can break any tackle and he believes that he gets stronger as the game goes on. Watch the move that he makes right here. He makes a move on two of them, and they're young guys and Cris Carter's the old guy. Cris Carter makes them look like the old guy, and then he asks for a face mask. And probably rightly so. >> 34 seconds left to play in the first half. The Vikings still with two time-outs. Cunningham. Ball batted up in the air and falls harmlessly. >> You think of Randy Moss and the big catches he makes you. You don't notice that Cris Carter's already caught over 100 yards of passes today. Here, again, we talk about the lanes, and you see if you can either rush the passer and knock him down, or you just get in the lane. George Teague, if he doesn't trip right there, he might have gotten to that ball. Second down and 10. Cunningham back to throw it. Going for Carter. Incomplete. That's good defense. Good play by Terry Billups, who was just activated. >> Terry Billups they just brought up from their practice squad. He's just a little guy, and he has to play nickel now because Deion Sanders is out. And of course Randall Cunningham sees that, and you'd think, "Okay, I got Billups, who's just off the practice squad, and I got Cris Carter, and it's one-on-one. That's a pretty good matchup. I'm gonna throw it up there." And 90% of the time, you would think that Cris Carter would win that battle. Billups won the battle. >> Third down. Carter moves to the right side, in motion. Cunningham, with the heat on from Dexter Coakley, just unloaded. >> And that was really heat from Dexter Coakley. In fact, Coakley looks like he's just racing him right back there. He's racing him back to the spot that Randall Cunningham wants to throw the ball. Cowboys are now doing a good job on defense of mixing things up -- three-man line, four-man line, lay off, blitz, those kinds of things. >> Look at this season for Gary Anderson. Look at the field goals. 20 attempted, 20 made. >> Can't beat perfect. >> This one from 46 yards out. And he still hasn't missed. Gary Anderson now has 26 straight field goals. Berger to kick it off. 24-12, Minnesota leading. This one will be returned by Sherman Williams. To the 23-yard line. 7 seconds remaining in the first half. This is our videotape area. And the guys must be going to get turkey. >> Well, no, they were all on the bus. We had guys on the bus eating before the game. Oh! There they are right there. >> Lounging. >> Can't get anything on this. >> [ Laughs ] >> Whose pie is this? >> You got to get to Miami. >> This looks great in here! >> You may not have any food left. >> [ Laughs ] They can't do that. So I left, came up here with you, and then all those guys went in there and got my food. >> They violated your bus. >> My bus has been violated. >> [ Chuckles ] >> This week's "You Call It" -- Which team -- the Vikings or the Cowboys -- will have the most rushes in the second half of today's game. Join us on the Internet. Log on to foxsports.com. And we wish you good luck. We are at Texas Stadium, and Minnesota lightning struck in a hurry, didn't it? >> Well, and it's the type of thing that you kind of expected because Randall Cunningham is so hot, and he has Randy Moss out there, and then there's no Deion Sanders for Dallas. So you just wondered how quickly it was going to happen, and it happened right off the bat. This was a flea-flicker, and it was handed to Robert Smith and back to Randall Cunningham. He threw it to Randy Moss. And then Cris Carter you know is always gonna get his. >> That was in the middle of double coverage, Cris Carter's catch. Here's Moss again. >> And Moss, again the speed and concentration and the catch, and the way he does things. Randall Cunningham has so much confidence in him. I think that after they did that, I think they kind of got away from it and probably will be thinking about getting back to it now. >> Sherman Williams brought the second-half kickoff out to just outside the 20-yard line. Game summary, first half, and there's more than you can include in just those highlights. 12 out of 24, 261 yards, 3 touchdowns for Randall Cunningham. Aikman was 11 of 20 for 206 yards and a touchdown to Patrick Jeffers. Emmitt Smith became the fifth all-time leading rusher in the NFL, passing Jim Brown, and he now occupies fifth place. >> Another thing is we've had four touchdowns of over 50 yards in this game. >> Aikman. Gets out to Moose. And Daryl Johnston stopped by Corey Fuller. Both teams have had other opportunities. And Minnesota suffered 166 lost return yards on two penalties, long runs by David Palmer. >> Yeah, one was all the way for a touchdown. The other one was right down inside the 10 that could have been a touchdown. So that could equal 14 points. And then the Cowboys went through a period there where they got the dropsies on Troy Aikman. >> Bjornson in the backfield. Emmitt Smith looking for some room, can't find any. He might have leaned for a yard. Erik Williams just dropped Dwayne Rudd, and he's grabbing his knee. I didn't see him hit him, but I saw Rudd come flying by. >> And Rudd is still down there, as we look what Troy Aikman did. Again, he was 2 for 3 in the zone on the left for 10 yards, 2 for 4 in the middle, 4 for 6. And then here's where he did the damage. Here's the touchdown, 1 for 2 when he threw deep over 15 yards. So that's a thing that they are doing. They're not just throwing all short passes. They are stretching the defense. >> Third and 5. No blitz. Aikman fires. Complete to Jeffers. First down. >> Good pass protection out there. We talk about Larry Allen being the best tackle in football, going against John Randle, a great pass rusher. And this is what you have to have. Here's Larry Allen here. He's looking to the inside. He's gonna block John Randle. We know how strong he is and how big he is, but he's also so quick, you know, that his feet are always on balance. And he gives John Randle nowhere to go and no way to get to Troy Aikman. >> That's a lot of bulk to run around. >> That is what it's all about. That is pass protection. That is an offensive pro tackle. >> First down, Cowboys, and Aikman drops. Chased. And just throws it away. Intended for Joe Avezzano, the special-teams coach. >> There was a jailbreak on that side, to the side that he was trying to bootleg to. Troy Aikman was gonna bootleg out to this left side, and there was about four guys there, including John Randle, coming to that side, and Troy Aikman said, "I'd better stop and get rid of the ball." Watch him here. You see they get a little bump on him. Now, that's an unfair thing. David LaFleur cannot block John Randle. He gave him a little bump and chased him. Now watch Troy Aikman. He is going to bootleg right into that. And he sees that, and he said, "Whoa, I better get my hat and get the heck out of here and go the other way." >> That's a bad place to bootleg. This time he has time. And has Michael Irvin. Got a block from Daryl Johnston, and Irvin gets into Viking territory and a Cowboy first down. >> Again, this is one of the great battles here, and if Troy Aikman is going to be successful, they have to get John Randle blocked. And you see Larry Allen there, he just gives him a couple clubs, but when he gives them one of those bumps, the guy goes about 3 yards outside. We see where John Randle has lined up today -- 32 times at right end, over Larry Allen, and only five times has he got into that tackle position. >> First down, Cowboys. Aikman again. Back to throw. Gets the pass. Complete to Daryl Johnston. He is leveled. >> I would think that every time they pass to Daryl Johnston, it's about for none yards. That's one that you would take out of the repertoire about now because they went for it for 2 points, they went for this pass, and it didn't get them the thing, and every time they throw it, a guy like Robert Griffith just comes up and makes a tackle like that. >> Robert Griffith doesn't shy away. >> No, that's a form tackle. If you were gonna be a high school coach or something and teach guys how to tackle, you would look at that tackle right there that Robert Griffith just made. Watch this. Here it is. You come up balanced, just square. You get everything square, bend your knees, wrap your arms, get right under the guy's numbers, lift him up and put him on his back. >> You sound like you might have been a coach. >> Yeah. I mean, all that stuff about coming under control, your feet about shoulder width, knees bent, head up. >> That's good. That's textbook. That's textbook. >> Wrap arms. >> Aikman gives. To Emmitt Smith. And Jerry Ball puts an end to things. >> If you try and run in the middle, Jerry Ball, on running downs, will put an end to things most of the time. And you see, again, how tight he is. He's right up there on Kiselak, the center. And he just gets him. And Kiselak comes out, and Jerry Ball just takes that right arm. You see that move? Just take the right arm and go whack! And he just knocks Kiselak to the outside, and then he's right in there for Emmitt Smith. >> Now you sound even more like a coach. >> And that wasn't a bad form tackle either, but I liked that right arm that he clubbed him with. >> Aikman. And Troy fires complete to Billy Davis. First down. Good effort by Aikman and Davis. >> And this is a thing we talk about at quarterback, having to be able to move. You don't have to run a lot, but just enough. See how Troy Aikman moves here? Just moves a little. Now, that buys time. Now, that time it buys you allows your receiver a little more time to get open, and that's exactly what Billy Davis did. >> See Aikman throw that ball like he's throwing darts. That's what the great ones do. >> And when he's hot -- even when he's not hot -- I think he's probably the most accurate quarterback in the league. >> First down, Cowboys, at the Minnesota 24. And Aikman drops again. And throws again. And LaFleur has it in the middle, past the Viking 20. >> Troy Aikman's the type of quarterback, and we could be seeing it now, that can go like 15 in a row. >> Yeah. Chan Gailey, the new head coach. I don't guess he's new anymore. Average yards to go on third down -- 11.4 for the Dallas offense. That's pretty tough to overcome. >> Yeah, and the thing that caused a lot of that was penalties. That's why I think Chan Gailey was so upset with the team a week ago, the penalties, and they had some of those in the first half. >> That's Davis in motion on second and 5. Aikman again drops. Now he's walking, and a flag is dropped on the other side of the field as Aikman slides to the 10 with a first down. But a penalty marker down way on the other side of the field. >> Yeah, and that had to be over there -- Derrick Alexander was the left end, and he just stopped. He must have saw something on that side, the left end, over on the right tackle side of the Cowboys. He just stopped and stood there. >> It's against Minnesota. It could have been against Derrick Alexander. >> Illegal use of the hands. Number 90, defense. Be a 5-yard penalty assessed from the end of the run. First down. >> That's what it was, because he just stopped. Here he is right here, and he gets the illegal hands to the face. >> Can't get it out. >> And now he just stands there. You see Troy Aikman is running, and he just stands there. Look, Aikman's still playing. I mean, they're still playing football, and Alexander just stood there and watched him. >> Got his hand up in there and couldn't get it out. >> Yeah, but there was still some football to be played, and the man wasn't playing football. >> First and goal at the 7. >> They took him out. I'm sure his coach, Andre Patterson, is gonna talk to him about that. >> Davis comes in motion. Aikman drops. Nothing doing. A flag on the play, however. >> That's the first one that Troy Aikman missed, isn't it? >> Well, I think it was because the receiver was held. >> That's a pretty good reason. >> Or pushed. >> You know, we were talking about the Cowboys in the first half and their penalties and how it killed them, and it killed the Vikings a little too on those big plays with David Palmer. >> Pass interference. Number 58, defense. Automatic first down. >> Now watch Billy Davis here, and you'll see the penalty. The penalty's on Ed McDaniel right there. >> Oh, yeah. >> Actually Billy Davis was trying to come across. Ed McDaniel, as a middle linebacker, his responsibility is don't let him come across. >> That's why Aikman missed. Emmitt. Touchdown. >> That was a great effort by Emmitt Smith. Erik Williams said, "You jam me with a hand to the face, I'll spike the ball." Doggone near broke the ball. Emmitt Smith says, "Hey, I want that one because I save my touchdown footballs." That was a heck of an effort because Emmitt Smith started to the left side. That ball was designed to go to the left side and ended up on the right side. >> And it'll be Cunningham for the extra point. Emmitt Smith. Let's watch the blocking. >> Watch David LaFleur here. >> The Cowboys ready to kick it off. Pat Summerall here with John Madden. And it's a contest. A high, short kick by Toby Gowin. And Palmer is still on his feet. To the 30. And that's where the Vikings will start. >> You want to see an NFL Thanksgiving spike? Watch Erik Williams here. He's gonna dance a little, then he's gonna wind up, and he is gonna uncork that thing, dawg. The one that went to Los Angeles, you mean? >> Yeah. Tough to take a boat to Los Angeles. Trying to get the crowd going, and they're going. >> You know who that guy was? That's a professional wrestler. That's Van Hammer that was doing that. >> Oh, really? >> Yeah, I recognized him. >> Cunningham gives to Hoard. And Hoard is taken down in the backfield by Darren Woodson. >> Yeah, this is the thing that we talked about Darren Woodson and being a warrior and playing up close to the line of scrimmage. Earlier in the game, they were playing all the two deep, and he was playing 12 and 15 yards off, and Randall Cunningham and the Vikings were having their way with this defense. Then they started getting Darren Woodson up close to the line of scrimmage, started blitzing him, and I think that has changed the momentum of the game. >> Second and 14. Woodson is dropping deep this time. And it's a four-man rush, and Cunningham fires to Cris Carter, who's got it. In front of Kevin Smith. >> I think the key word you said there, Pat, was "fired." >> He really let it go, didn't he? >> I know. And Cris Carter was coming. Here he is against Kevin Smith. You're gonna see him start up to the outside, keep Kevin Smith like he's going outside, and then cut underneath him. And then he got that step on Kevin Smith, and then Randall Cunningham just fired it right into him. >> Had the ball right there. First and 10, Minnesota. 24-19. They lead by 5. Hoard is the deep back. Cunningham. Makes the catch, but he's surrounded. And pushed out of bounds. >> And of course Leroy Hoard is playing because Robert Smith is out. Top running back for the Minnesota Vikings, Robert Smith, injured his knee and won't return to today's game. Their offensive -- >> Got to be -- excuse me. >> No, I was just saying their possessions here in the first five minutes, they really exploded, and then they kind of got quiet, although they did have a couple touchdown opportunities on kick returns. >> Second and 8. Cunningham drops. Gonna throw a screen pass. And does. And Hoard is chased by Lett. And there's a flag on the play. This has to be against Minnesota. The blockers were in front of Leroy Hoard. And that's Randy Moss who's down. And Lett is down as well. >> Yeah, Leon Lett, he got the original penetration, and then he did a heck of a job of running that ball down. >> This has been a tough, tough contest. >> Holding. Number 62, offense. 10-yard penalty. Repeat second down. >> Jeff Christy called for holding. >> There's Jeff Christy right there, and you can see the grab. You see he has just has a hold of Dexter Coakley. He just had a hold of his right shoulder. >> And here comes Leon Lett. >> And you see Leon Lett here. He's running here, chasing the ball down. He's looking and he's kind of come for an angle there, and he got hit by a Viking who was on the ground before he got there. >> And he's still down. >> The Big Cat was coming across the field. >> He had a bad knee. These live shots are provided by the Blockbuster blimp, which looks happy to be home in Dallas. And should be. It's a beautiful day. This is the site of Blockbuster's corporate headquarters. Randall Cunningham. Second and 18 brings the Vikings out. >> Kevin Smith isn't out there for the Dallas Cowboy defense now. >> Billups has taken his place. Cunningham going up the middle. And there's no flag. It was intended for Glover. The defensive back is saying he was pushed. >> You wonder when Randall Cunningham is gonna get back to Randy Moss. Remember early, he caught those two touchdown passes. He hasn't caught a pass since. In fact, since that second touchdown pass, they've only thrown one more ball to Randy Moss. >> I'm not even sure he's in the -- Here he comes into the contest. Darren Hambrick. He was saying something to Cris Carter. >> Yeah, and Carter started to go over to get a little better listen to it so he could hear exactly what those words were. >> That's the wrong side of the field to go if you want more information. >> Yeah, but Cris Carter's one of those guys that is a real competitor and has fun with the game. Here's Randy Moss out here, and it's about time that they chunk one deep to him. >> Three-man rush. Cunningham chased and chucks deep. Incomplete, but there are flags everywhere as Kenny Wheaton grabbed ahold of Randy Moss. >> And you knew it was just a matter of time that you -- Sometimes you have success with something, and then you forget about it. And there's so many things when you just throw it up deep to Randy Moss. He's gonna catch it a big part of the time. >> Pass interference. 25, defense. >> You know if it's a jump ball, he's gonna outjump you. >> But look what happened on that. I mean, that was just grabbing him, and they called it on 25. But that was Kenny Wheaton. >> There's the grab right there. >> Yeah, that's Kenny Wheaton, number 30. That's who they meant. But he's trying everything. Poor Kenny Wheaton is trying to grab him before he jumped because he knows that Randy Moss can outjump him. And then after he does outjump him, then he takes a whack at the thing. And it's tough when you know a guy can outjump you and that same guy can also outrun you. >> That's pretty hard to play defense. >> Then you better grab ahold of anything you can. >> Hoard is the deep back. And Hoard gets the carry and hammers... for 6 points, a Viking touchdown. Strong running by Leroy Hoard. He wanted to get in there. >> He wanted more than those 3 yards. Again, the momentum changer was Randall Cunningham throwing that deep one to Randy Moss. They got the pass interference. And now the Cowboys are a little down, and they take Leroy Hoard, big, powerful guy, and just run him right through. I'll tell you, when he gets going like that, when he gets square, guys bounce off. Remember he had that long run against the Green Bay Packers last week and the same thing happened. >> He looked for somebody to run into. >> Yeah, I mean, when Hoard goes through there, guys bounce off him. >> They're going for 2. Minnesota Vikings going for 2. Cunningham's gonna make another jump ball. And Moss just takes it away. Just toss it out there, and Randy Moss is gonna come down with it. The Vikings set to kick it off. Berger. >> That's quite a group there we just saw, Pat, huh? Half of them blew kisses, the other half just said, "Happy Thanksgiving." >> That's Sherman Williams. Out to the 40. Here's Aikman back to throw it. Looking and finding and dropped. >> Another drop. >> By Michael Irvin. >> Old coaches don't fly. >> [ Chuckles ] Does that mean you don't fly? >> That's what I mean. >> That's why the bus. >> Yeah. >> That's seven dropped passes by the Cowboys. >> Yeah, that's been the thing that has been their undoing -- that and of course the big plays by the Minnesota Vikings. You know, Randy Moss has three big plays. Cris Carter has the big play. And of course they had two on kick returns brought back. >> Here's Aikman. Open, Irvin. And that's enough for a first. That one stuck to him. >> You know, sometimes when you have great battle like Larry Allen and John Randle, you have to say who's winning, and Larry Allen is winning this. Here you see Michael Irvin wins this battle. He just finds a zone. But this battle right here is one that's been going on all day, and John Randle only has one tackle. And I was really surprised that they lined him up all day on Larry Allen. I thought they would put him inside. >> That's like giving him up. >> You would think that he would have been a little out there and then eventually get to the inside. Because I really feel that John Randle is one of the best defensive linemen in football, but I think he's a better defensive tackle than he is an end. >> Sherman Williams, after leg cramps, returning to the locker room. He should be back and probably will be back. >> You know, with Chris Warren out and Emmitt Smith being a little banged up, Sherman Williams is the only backup tailback they have. >> Right. Here's Aikman to throw it. Here comes the safety blitz. And that's incomplete, and that was a bad throw. Billy Davis dived. That one was low, got away from Aikman. He had to hurry. >> It was a good read by Troy Aikman. He has guys open. And that's one thing about this offense that the Cowboys are running, that Chan Gailey has brought here, that they do get guys open, they do spread the ball around. It's not one-dimensional. It's not just Troy Aikman throwing to Michael Irvin. It's Troy Aikman making his reads and throwing to the guy that's open. >> And nobody reads them better than he does. Shotgun. Four wide receivers. Protection holds up for a moment. Pass is incomplete. Intended for Irvin. >> Michael Irvin's out there trying to get a call there, saying that that was pass interference, but that's one of those passes that I always question. Even though had he caught that ball, it wasn't gonna be a first down anyway. I think when you go shotgun and spread them out, I think that you have to get your receivers up there where they're gonna get a first down. >> John, there are 5,000 men and women on the aircraft carrier <i> Enterprise</i> in the Persian Gulf watching this afternoon. We send our thanks to them. Hope you're enjoying what we're doing. >> Happy Thanksgiving. >> Gowin hangs it high. Palmer tries to get back and block, and does. And they'll bring it back to the 20. He kept Billy Davis... Here's inside the bus. >> Yeah, well, this is -- The first thing we have here is a turducken. >> That's a new bus, too. >> Yeah, it's a new bus. And then we have the six-legged turkey there, and we got the stuffing and we got the Bloomin' Onion and we got the potatoes and we got the whole thing going. We got a football here. You never know when a game's gonna break out. >> Pecan pie. >> Yeah, pecan pie. After this game, we'll take one of those legs or two of those legs or five and give to the player that we think is the most valuable player in the game. He'll get the old annual Turkey Leg Award. >> Well, you got six legs on the turkey, so if it's that many... >> Well, that turkey had three heads. >> That's true. I forgot about that. >> That's what the kid said. If you have more heads, then you have more legs. >> That's true. >> That's been the secret for a long time, that people really never knew that, how do you grow that many legs? Well, you grow that many legs by growing that many heads. >> Leon Lett again standing on the sideline, getting a rest. >> Leon Lett was a guy that they ran over, Leroy Hoard when he made that last touchdown. David Dixon, the right guard, made a heck of a block on Leon Lett, and David Dixon made the hole for Leroy Hoard. >> Second and 8. Cunningham drops. And Cunningham's gonna take off. No. Pulled up. It looked like he might have been over the line of scrimmage, but no. Randy Moss, the intended receiver. >> What just happened there? Whoo! >> Third and 8. Big down coming. Cunningham has time. And lofts a pass -- intercepted. This is Izell Reese. Intercepted by the Cowboys. Izell Reese stopped by Leroy Hoard. But the Cowboys get a turnover. >> And you know the Cowboys are beat up when they have Izell Reese is back there and they have Billups back there and making plays. They get in a three-man line, and they just give the rush from that. So Randall Cunningham has plenty of time, but as you said, he lofts the ball instead of really throwing that with a zip on it. >> That's Kavika Pittman that hits him. >> Yeah, and that's what made the thing wobble a little. But I don't think that he put enough mustard on it originally. >> I think he felt the pressure from Pittman. First and 10, Cowboys, at the Minnesota 33. >> That, again, was a rush from just a three-man line. >> Yeah. Aikman drops. Throwing on every down almost. Pumps, throws short. This week it's a Fox NFL Sunday doubleheader. First Jamal Anderson and the NFC West-leading Atlanta Falcons battle the Rams. Then the Eagles head to Lambeau Field to take on Brett Favre and the Packers, plus other regional action. Coverage begins at noon Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific on Fox, so check your local listings. >> That interception by Randall Cunningham was the first turnover of this game, but it seemed like there was more. There were fumbles, but the team that fumbled always recovered it or there were penalties. >> Penalties are the big thing. Here's Aikman. And quickly -- dropped again by Davis. >> And I think that Troy Aikman's starting to get a little frustrated. You don't see that much, but his feet got a little antsy in the pocket there. There was no one around him. And I think his feet were antsy because he was waiting for someone to get open. Nothing came open, and then he finally throws it and it's dropped. >> He found Billy Davis open. >> Look at that -- eight dropped passes today. >> That'll hurt you. >> That's a coach and quarterback and quarterback coach killer. And receiver killer. Receiver coach killer. >> Shotgun formation. Aikman pointed out two people. But they rush only four. And Aikman throws it. And has a man open. Michael Irvin fights inside the 20. And that'll move the sticks. >> Michael Irvin better hold on to that ball because remember earlier he started to straight-arm, and he just forgot that he had the ball in his hand. >> You know, the highest-scoring game in this Thanksgiving series was between these two teams. 44-38, Minnesota won. >> And you see what they're doing is because he's not holding on to the ball, and he has it out there, they're going for it. Michael Irvin is experienced enough to know that there is a point that you put it out there, but there's also a point that it better be pretty tight. >> That's unlike Irvin. Here's Aikman. And he just throws it away. To the green pasture. >> I think he got whipsawed on that play. >> Yes, he did. >> That's what happened to your granddad one day, didn't it? He got whipsawed. What, in a card game or something? >> No, in a sawmill. >> In a sawmill. But watch what happens. The old whipsaw is when you get high-low. He gets low right there and high right there. Whew! >> Yeah, that's a whipsaw. >> Alexander was underneath him, and Clemons was on top of him. Troy Aikman looking at his wristband again. He has about 60 plays on those wristbands, plays on both wrists. And the plays are sent in or called by numbers. >> Here's a big one coming. That was thrown where it had to be, and Davis goes down and gets it. A flag on the play. They might have hit Aikman late. >> They've been going after Troy Aikman, but his offensive line has done an excellent job of pass protection. >> This against Dallas. >> It looks like it's against the rookie, Flozell Adams, the right guard, because he's the guy doing the arguing. >> Personal foul, chop block. Number 76, offense. 15-yard penalty. Replay second down. >> That means that he had to chop a guy who was engaged. The guy was engaged with another blocker, and then you come in and chop him. That's an illegal chop block. >> Backs them all the way up to the 32-yard line. Let's see if we can find it. >> See, now, here's Flozell Adams here. And now he's okay blocking there. Now see right there he's engaged, and then he comes over the top. That was a bad call on Flozell Adams. I mean, they could call it on Mike Kiselak, the center, but Flozell Adams didn't do anything wrong. >> It was a bad call. >> I think the official thought that he saw something that wasn't there. >> Second and 25, and Aikman drops. Three-man rush. Aikman dumps it off to Emmitt Smith, to the 30. Hitchcock tripped up Emmitt. >> I think right now the Dallas Cowboys have to pull out one of the Minnesota Vikings' plays. I mean, they got that third and 20. >> Throw it up in the air. >> Yeah, get it beyond the first-down marker. We're not talking about field goals now. We're talking about touchdowns. I think you just got to chuck it up there into the end zone and get a jump ball out of it or get a pass interference or something like the Vikings have been doing to them. >> You got a pretty good chance. Here's Aikman operating out of the shotgun. >> That's better than throwing underneath. >> Yeah. Again. Incomplete. Couldn't get it there. And he's knocked down again. He's been hit a lot. >> Yeah, they had real good coverage on Michael Irvin out here on the left side, and that's where he's trying to throw. >> Alexander and Randle get there. >> Yeah, you see him coming back here. He's looking to the left. He's looking for Michael Irvin right there, trying to throw to him. And he just didn't have time. Michael Irvin wasn't open when he was ready to throw. >> This from 48 yards by Cunningham. It'll get there. And it's good. 47 yards officially. It's 32-22, 1:20 left in the third. >> There's Andre Patterson. He's the new defensive line coach of the Minnesota Vikings, and this defense is playing pretty well today, because the Cowboys are moving the ball, but they're keeping them out of the end zone. >> Yeah. >> And they're getting the pass rush right now when they need it. I said they got a couple of whipsaws. The got an earlier whipsaw and then a second whipsaw there on Troy Aikman on the third-down play, and that's what Andre Patterson is talking to his defensive linemen about, about getting a pass rush, getting to Troy Aikman because the Cowboys, as you said earlier, are really in just a passing mode. They're just gonna throw all the time. >> Michael Irvin's had a busy day. >> Yeah, he has, and he was the guy that Troy Aikman was trying to get to on a deep in on the left side on that last play, and the Vikings were in a zone, and they had good zone coverage on him. >> Richie Cunningham set to kick it off. Oh, this is Toby Gowin. Beg your pardon. Cunningham just hit the field goal. Gowin's kick sails deep to Palmer, a yard deep in the end zone. He hurt them earlier. This time he gets out to about the 23. Turkey Leg Awards. In 1995 we were in Detroit. Herman Moore, Brett Perriman, Johnnie Morton, and Scott Mitchell, quarterback at that time. Now it's Charlie Batch. Stay with us today. We'll be doing that awarding -- what we think or who we think is the most valuable player or players after it's over. And it's a long way from being over. Cunningham drops, fakes, and throws. To Greg DeLong. >> I don't know exactly what Leon Lett sees. He gets off the ball so quickly and gets penetration. Did you see how -- Everyone else is still on the line of scrimmage, and whatever he sees or hears or listens to, he gets off before anyone else does. He gets off before the blockers are ready or anything. And then he catches guys when they're unexpected. And he always gets penetration. He is a disruptive force for any offense. >> Second and 1. Cunningham quickly to Carter. Breaks one. Skips out of bounds. >> Now just watch the ball and just watch Leon Lett. And here's his hand, and just watch how quickly he gets off when that ball moves. I mean, he's like they told him something and they didn't tell the rest of the guys. >> Yeah. >> He's at least two lengths ahead of the rest of the guys. >> You got to bet on him in a race. >> If it was a horse race, they wouldn't even use the photo. >> That's right. First and 10, Minnesota. The clock ticking down to end the third quarter. They lead by 10. The Cowboys showing blitz. Minnesota. Randy Moss breaks a tackle, and Randy Moss races down the sideline, and Randy Moss just outruns everybody into the end zone. He is incredible. I think he might be enjoying some turkey. >> Yeah. He better like a turkey leg. I'll tell you, it's just a short pass out there. Charlie Williams is there, and he misses the tackle. Here's Randy Moss. Here's Charlie Williams. And you're gonna see it's just a little 3-yard go. Charlie Williams is there. He makes a poor tackle or no tackle. And then when Randy Moss gets here, he just outruns everyone. He is fun to watch. >> Billups had the angle. He had everything. >> Yeah, angles and all those things don't mean anything against speed. >> And that is raw speed. >> Speed kills. >> The extra point is good by Anderson. And Minnesota, looking stronger and stronger, lead 39-22. >> That guy there, Randy Moss, has three catches today and three touchdowns. And there's his mentor. That's how they talk. That's his mentor, Cris Carter. He's fired up, and that's the way you talk to a guy like that. You just start punching him. After the Minnesota Vikings drafted Randy Moss, they sent him down to Florida, Boca Raton, to spend time with Cris Carter. And he went down there, and he worked with Cris Carter. The thing we talked about, Randall Cunningham having fun, and Randy Moss is the same way. I mean, here's a kid who's out there playing a game. You just watch him here. I mean, he sprints up the sideline, he makes a little move the way you'd make in the park or something. And then watch this. He salutes. >> 51, 56, and 56-yard touchdown catches by Randy Moss. Three catches, three touchdowns, 163 yards. They say that he wanted to play in Dallas, he wanted to come here. He wasn't picked by Dallas. Minnesota took him. So maybe he thinks he has something to prove. >> But Chan Gailey was telling us yesterday that if Greg Ellis weren't there, the defensive lineman they wanted, that they would have taken Randy Moss. >> Sherman Williams downs it in the end zone. Billy Davis tells him to stay back there. Pat Summerall, John Madden, back at Texas Stadium. Stunned by the effectiveness of this Minnesota attack. 39-22, they lead the Cowboys. And it's almost like the Cowboys' defense can't defense them. >> Well, and I think you could put a lot of defenses in this league against Randy Moss. We just saw last week the Green Bay Packers in two games couldn't defend him. >> That's right. Aikman comes out throwing. Hits Michael Irvin. And he is a yard short of a first. Second and 1. First down by Emmitt Smith. "Anything is Mossible." I think it is. >> You know, it's funny, Randy Moss coming to this team, the job Denny Green has done, Red McCombs buying the club. You know, we've traveled around this league for years, and you never saw many purple jerseys. But you notice now you go to places, and you're seeing more and more people wearing Minnesota Viking apparel than any other time. >> Well, you go to Minnesota and you can feel the enthusiasm. We were there last week when they beat Green Bay. >> Even when we came in here to Dallas, there was a little purple enthusiasm. >> LaFleur makes the catch at the 40. >> Some good things have happened to Minnesota. The got Red McCombs, and I think that was big. >> That's a big, big plus. >> He came in as the owner. Before that, they had 10 owners, and he solidified everything. He gave Denny Green a new contract. He gave all the assistants all new contracts and solidified the whole thing. And then they just got Jesse "The Body" Ventura as a governor. >> Does that help the Vikings? >> Well, he sent -- If they lost, he was gonna send some lutefisk to Green Bay. >> No. Chasing. But Aikman gets it out to Smith. Just close to that marker. >> Aikman has thrown for over 300 yards today. That's the first time he's done that this season, but he's done it 11 times so far, which is a Cowboy record, that he broke Danny White's record. >> 22 out of 40. And a lot more to come, I'm sure. >> It has to be because when you play Minnesota, it's a lot like playing the Denver Broncos, that you can't go in there and say, "We're gonna run the ball. We're gonna ball-control, kick field goals." You have to say, "We're gonna go in there, and these guys can score a lot of points. We got to get in a shoot-out." And you don't have time to do some of those other things. >> It's a first down, Cowboys. Chan Gailey. >> In fact, if there's any two offenses that really remind me of each other the way that they can score anytime that they have the ball from anyplace, it's these two teams -- the Minnesota Vikings and the Denver Broncos. >> I don't know, as you think about those two, who has more speed? >> Minnesota has more speed. >> With Randy Moss. >> With Randy Moss. But Minnesota doesn't have Terrell Davis. >> That's true. And Robert Smith is gone with an injured knee. Here's Aikman back to throw it again. Has to come out. And does throw. And what a catch this time. What a catch by Jeffers. That is one heck of a catch. >> Yeah, and Pat Jeffers was the guy, remember, that made the touchdown catch early. This is a guy that Troy Aikman's been talking about for a month. And he said he's been throwing to him more and more in practice, and he said, "This guy is going to be --" He said next year he thinks he's going to be the starting wide receiver opposite of Michael Irvin. >> Makes catches like this, he will be. >> He may be the starting wide receiver opposite Michael Irvin next week. >> First and 10, Cowboys. Two-tight-end setup. Bjornson comes out of the backfield. Whips it. That's to Irvin. Ducks under one, gets down to the 35 of Minnesota. 36, make it. Robert Griffith made the stop. >> And that's really the difference between the Cowboy offense and the Minnesota Viking offense is the Cowboy offense can complete passes, they can make plays, but they do it in shorter chunks of yardage, and the Vikings can take the whole enchilada in one play. >> If they get it to the right guy. >> Or the whole turducken. We got a turducken up here. We got a turkey up here in the booth, we got it down there. We got more turkey and stuffing than I've ever seen in my life. >> Here's Aikman. He has Billy Davis. There's a flag on the play back in the middle of the field. Davis has a first down at the Minnesota 25. Corey Fuller stopped him, but let's see what the flag is all about. >> I think Troy Aikman likes these kind of games. He doesn't want to have to pass every down, but I think if you're going to get in a shoot-out, he likes to be on one side of that. >> Illegal contact. 24, defense. That penalty is declined. Result of the play -- first down. >> Number 24 is Robert Griffith. You can see here what they're trying to do now is just knock the ball out of there. Corey Fuller there. He took a shot. Billy Davis did a good job. There's no way that -- This league has gotten so big at that, you know, trying to knock the ball out. >> They practice it all the time. >> Yeah, I know it. And then the receivers and running backs practice against it too. >> Aikman again drops. And the blitz comes, and he fires. And the ball goes behind the intended receiver. That's Davis. That one would have been pretty tough to catch. >> Yeah, those are the things in zones. You run away from man, and you get in holes of zone. You see Billy Davis is trying to find a hole there and work back. He's trying to work back to Troy Aikman. But as he's working back the inside to his left, Troy Aikman throws it outside to his right. That was Troy Aikman's fault, not Billy Davis'. >> So it's second and 10. Flag on the play. >> I think that's gonna be on Erik Williams moving, and it was just a hair. He just started moving back in pass protection. >> Prior to the snap, false start. Number 79, offense. 5-yard penalty. Replay second down. >> It was just a hair before the ball was snapped because I was looking right down at the ball and at Erik Williams. You can see here. Anytime a guy is outside, this guy gets a little anxious to move. And you see he moved just a hair there. It was just that little set. He was in a two-point stance, and he just started to rock back a little, but the ball hadn't been snapped yet. >> Second and 15. 39-22. Dallas penalties -- 15 last week. And again today they've hurt. Here comes the Minnesota blitz, as Aikman lofts it outside to Irvin. A flag on the play again, as Irvin went out of bounds about three yards shy of the first down. Just across the 20 -- the 17, make it. >> And they had their backup tight end, Eric Bjornson, was in the backfield for protection. That's one thing about Chan Gailey's offense is he wants to give maximum protection when he can to Troy Aikman. So that time he had Troy Aikman in a shotgun and Bjornson on one side and Emmitt Smith on the other side. >> Holding. 27, defense. 5-yard penalty from the previous spot. Automatic first down. >> Automatic first down is the key to that one. >> It was against Corey Fuller right there, and the holding was before this. The holding was off the line of scrimmage, and Michael Irvin still beat him. >> Here it is right here. >> Here's where the penalty is, right there. See, he held him earlier right off the line. And then holding is before the ball is in the air. Pass interference is after the ball's in the air. >> An automatic first down, in any case. First and 10, Dallas. At the Minnesota 23. Aikman again drops to throw. And throws quickly outside to Moose Johnston. Gets inside the 20 to about the 19. Orlando Thomas took him out of bounds. >> They're darn determined to make that play work, aren't they? They're turning the Moose loose today. And that's the thing. The Moose in the flat is one of the things that they've had open all day, but it hasn't made any yards. >> I think that's the longest gain it's gotten all day. That's 5 yards. >> Yeah, remember they went for it on a 2-point conversion and threw one to him and didn't get the 2 points. >> Second and 5. Clock running. Aikman back to throw it. Drops it out to Emmitt Smith on a screen. They've got something going here. Emmitt inside the 5. Emmitt Smith down to about the 1. >> I'll tell you, they have been batting Troy Aikman around on this drive. >> He is gonna be sore tomorrow. >> He's been on the ground every play. One of the advantages of playing on Thanksgiving, especially if you win, is you get those 10 days off. But they have really been whacking him. Look at that look. That is a guy who loves to compete but right at that moment isn't having a whole heck of a lot of fun. >> No. That's a look that, "I hope all the pieces are still together when I get up." >> And they are. >> Bjornson goes in motion. Emmitt Smith burrows to his left. Doesn't quite get in. That's a pretty good tribute to the offensive line of the Cowboys. One sack in the last 17-plus quarters. But they've been close. >> Yeah, they've been close, and they've knocked him down a lot. Again, it's not always just the offensive line. They keep tight ends in to block now. Moose Johnston stays in as a blocker, Emmitt Smith. Second and goal at the 1. Smith. Walks into the end zone, his second touchdown of the day. And the Cowboys aren't out of it yet. This one's not over yet. >> The thing is, is everyone read that this was gonna be a sweep, and you see how easy that Emmitt Smith made it just by cutting back. Anytime you see the ball in the air, when the ball's flipped, you know that it has to be played outside. So this is a flip. And you watch when Troy Aikman flips it here, everyone goes to the outside, and in doing so, he can just take one move to the inside. And I don't even think they touched Emmitt Smith. >> Maybe got a hand on him, but that's all. Cunningham for the extra point. [ Cheering ] >> Happy Thanksgiving! >> Cowboys set to kick off. Toby Gowin. Minnesota 39, the Cowboys 29. 8:46 left, with the clock running. And this is David Palmer bringing it out of the end zone. To the 28. 27, call it. 39-29 Minnesota lead. Again, a Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Fox. Minnesota 39... Hi, Bruce. >> Hey, how's this, Pat, here. The Vikings have 421 yards of total offense, the Cowboys 420. >> Sounds like it should be a pretty good game. >> 841 yards of offense. >> Leroy Hoard tackled in the backfield by Kavika Pittman on the pitchout. >> And the funny thing about it is it's been a very competitive, hard-hitting game. You see numbers like that, and you would say it's either great offense or it's lousy defense. But I think it's been great offense. This hasn't been a real bad defensive performance by either one of these teams. >> Early on it looked like Minnesota might just run away with everything. But the Cowboys have hung in and stayed close. They trail by 10, if you call that close. Second and 12. Cunningham drops to throw. Fires incomplete. Nobody around. >> And this a big third-down play, and you know this crowd is really gonna get into it here because they're thinking the Cowboys need right here is they need a sack or they really need a turnover. And this is where you want to do something, and Dave Campo, the defensive coordinator of the Cowboys, I'm sure is thinking about it. He wants to do something on this third and long to create a turnover. >> It's too bad, really, to have a chance to watch Randy Moss, not to have at the same time as we might have had Deion Sanders in the game to cover him. >> That is one that even I would pay admission for. I'd love to see Cunningham chuck a deep one, Randy Moss running under it, and Deion covering. >> Cunningham has time. And chucks a deep one. And it's almost picked off. There's a flag on the play at midfield. Deion just shakes his head. >> And the preliminary signal that the official gave was pushing the hands, against the Cowboys. >> Pass interference. 25, defense. Automatic first down. >> Am I wrong, or if you got into a place like that where you needed substantial yardage, why not just throw it up and you got a pretty good chance of getting a pass interference call? >> I think Charlie Williams had pretty good coverage there. >> That was a pretty good play. >> Yeah. I mean, it was -- He was underneath a little, making Randall Cunningham throw over that, but the Cowboys didn't get the play on that third and long that they needed. They got another penalty. >> DeLong on the move in the backfield. The hand-off to Hoard. That can take a little steam out of an offensive unit, as Leroy Hoard down the sideline is gonna get into the end zone. And what a run by Leroy Hoard. That's two weeks in a row he's done almost the same thing. >> He's gonna have to take that quote back. Says, "If you need 3 yards, I'll get you 5. If you need 5, I'll get you --" No, "If you need 1 yard, I'll get you 3. If you need 5, I'll get you 3." But he's been doing a heck of a lot more than that. >> "You need 3, you need 5, I'll get you 50." >> And he's done that. You know, part of this is just guys bounce off of him. Part of it is poor tackling. The Cowboys should have had him there. They should have had him there. They should have had him there. So you can say that's good, strong running by Leroy Hoard, and it is. You're not gonna bring him down with an arm tackle. >> Finally they did. In the end zone. >> In the end zone, knocked him down from behind. >> Back at Texas Stadium. 46-29, Minnesota over Dallas. Berger's kickoff sails down to Sherman Williams at the 2. At the 30. >> That guy that was born in 1965 is an old guy. >> [ Laughing ] Yes. Here's Aikman. In the pocket, going deep. Overthrows Patrick Jeffers. Aikman was hit, and he's still down. >> You know, he was talking about this being a shoot-out, and he knew it yesterday, that it was gonna be this type of game because Minnesota is doing the same thing against Dallas that they did a week ago against Green Bay. Every time they would get some momentum back, like Dallas would get some momentum back, then Minnesota would come right back and score. We were talking about it -- That's about the third or fourth whipsaw that Troy Aikman has taken today. >> Out of the shotgun this time on second and 10. Minnesota showing blitz. They don't come. Screen pass is the call. That's Sherman Williams. Sherman Williams is knocked out of bounds in Minnesota territory. While we have a moment, we'd like to express our thanks to Mrs. Gee, Mrs. Lyons, and all the children of Kenter Canyon Elementary School in Brentwood, California, for their participation in today's telecast for knowing Pilgrims wear funny hats. That was right. >> Well, no, but they really did enlighten us about a number of things that people that woke up this morning, they didn't know. And then they watched this game and they listened, and they're more enlightened. >> Now they know fat people can't fly. >> [ Laughing ] That's right. >> First down, Dallas. Aikman unloads. And there's a flag on the play. >> You know, sometimes -- You always hope for -- >> Intentional grounding's gonna be called, I think. >> ...for these kinds of games, you know, where you have high scoring and passing and all that, and we got one today. But I think when you get in a shoot-out against the Minnesota Vikings or the Denver Broncos, you're gonna lose. >> Intentional grounding. Number 8, offense. It's a 10-yard penalty. It also includes a loss of down. Third down. >> Now, what the rule is, a quarterback can come back and he can throw the ball away if he gets outside this tight-end box on either side. If he is in this area, the pocket area, he cannot throw the ball away. That's intentional grounding. So you can get outside and intentionally ground, but you can't stay in the pocket, as defined by being inside the two tight ends. >> That'll make it second and 20. 29 out of 49, Aikman's day. Sherman Williams. >> We've got to get down there. There it is. There's Willie Yarbrough on the right, Joe Mitchell on the left, and they're bringing the turkey down. [ Laughs ] >> Now, those two guys have only got four legs. >> Yeah. >> Turkey's got six. >> Yeah, there's the six-legged turkey. But again, the secret to that... >> Which way you going? >> ...like I said earlier, is it had three heads, that turkey did. Someone said, "Which way are we going?" >> Here's Aikman again. Over the head of Patrick Jeffers. 46 points scored by Minnesota, the most points against Dallas on Thanksgiving Day. >> Yeah, that was John Randle there, Pat, who hit Troy Aikman. And they finally moved him in to tackle, and that was Flozell Adams, a rookie right guard, that he beat on that play. >> Aikman drops in the shotgun. No punt. >> In fact, he's lined up there again. >> Not much of a rush. That's Eric Bjornson. That was fourth down. Minnesota will take over. >> I think there's been so many passes today that the guys are tired of rushing. I think that these defenses have rushed the passer so much today that they didn't have any more rushes left in them. >> Those people with the horns on their hats, the Vikings, I've got a feeling we're gonna see a lot more of them as we get to the playoffs and as the end of the year comes around. >> As I said, we've been seeing more and more of them as we go around. And they're the team that is, really, in the NFC, that has captured the fans this year. >> Yes. Absolutely true. >> Part of it is the team, part of it is the wonderful job Randall Cunningham has done and what an amazing story there. Randy Moss, Cris Carter. >> Can't take away from what a job that Denny Green and his staff have done. Foge Fazio with the defense. That guy right there. >> Andre Patterson. He's the defensive line coach. He's still down there coaching his guys to rush the passer. I think his guys are probably telling him, "Hey, Coach, we've had enough pass rushes today." And, you know, the tough thing about playing on Thanksgiving is always you have a short week. But the good news, if you win -- You get 10 days after if you win or lose, but it's a lot easier when you win. Then those are 10 pretty good and needed days. >> Second down. Cunningham. On a bounce. That's Cris Carter. >> We were talking and you mentioned last week how Cris Carter said that in the off-season he just worked on his weaknesses and how he doesn't catch a pass in the off-season. >> Doesn't catch a pass. That's amazing. >> And when they signed Randy Moss, he went down there to work out with Cris Carter, and that's the first thing that he told him. He said, "If you work with me, we don't catch passes. We don't catch footballs. We work on conditioning and all those other things." And Randy Moss said, "I don't need to catch any footballs." >> They catch all the footballs they need in training camp. And the Vikings lost no preseason games. They lost one all year -- that's to Tampa. Here comes the blitz. Picked up well. >> Randy Moss again. >> Moss makes the catch -- and dropped it. Took a step with it and dropped it. >> Randy Moss was thinking touchdown. Yeah, he was. He has three Cowboys down there with him. They knew that he was gonna do that, and this is the guy that you have to watch out for. He's learned how to use his hands well already. He just jumped, and he had the ball in his hands. >> Took his eyes off of it. >> Then he started to look towards the goal line. Watch this. Right here he comes down, you see him looking towards the goal line? And the ball went right up over his left shoulder. >> So he is a rookie. >> I don't know that he's a rookie. I think it shows that he may be a normal human being. >> Partially blocked is this kick. Straight up, the bounce. And now it bounces back toward the Cowboy end zone and out of bounds at the Minnesota 47. That is where the Cowboys will start. This week it's a Fox NFL Sunday doubleheader. First Jamal Anderson and the amazing NFC West-leading Atlanta Falcons battle the Rams. Then the Eagles head to Lambeau to take on Brett Favre and the Packers, plus other regional action. We'll be in Miami on Sunday. Coverage begins at noon Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific on Fox. Check your local listings. That is, I guess you can make the Miami, can't you? >> Oh, yeah, yeah. We'll leave right after the game full of all the food, yeah, and we'll have another -- We had Thanksgiving last night, one before the game. We'll have one after the game all the way to Miami. >> Aikman in the shotgun. Drops to throw. Throws quickly. That's Michael Irvin. >> You don't know who it's going to be this year, but in 1996 -- Remember this game? The Cowboys won here, and Emmitt Smith had a big day, so we gave it to Emmitt Smith and the entire Cowboy offensive line. We gave them the whole leftover carcass. We told Nate Newton to take the whole carcass. >> And he got rid of it. Aikman throws again. Irvin makes the catch at the 23, and there's a flag on the play. He was hit out of bounds. >> It has to be against the Cowboys because Troy Aikman is staying right where he threw it from. The Cowboy offensive line is staying right where they were. No one on that offense has moved downfield. >> Two flags. There's one at the line of scrimmage. There was one thrown back by where they went out of bounds. >> Now Troy Aikman sees that one, and he's gonna come down and see what happened, because he was all ready -- The one thrown at the line of scrimmage is against the Cowboys. >> The indication... >> Illegal use of the hands -- hands to the face. Offense. Personal foul. 24, defense. Late hit out of bounds. The penalties offset. Replay second down. >> You see they didn't say who the illegal hands to the face was, but you probably look there at Erik Williams and see that left hand, and that's exactly where it was. And the late hit is Robert Griffith right there. You see it's after Michael Irvin is out of bounds, and he comes and gives him a shot, so I think we caught both of them. Erik Williams of the Cowboys and Robert Griffith of the Vikings. >> So it's still second and 5. >> They just do it over again, that's all. >> 46-29. Here is Aikman. Shotgun again. In a hurry. Ball bounced in front of the receiver. Today's game is being produced by Bob Stenner, directed by Sandy Grossman. The associate director is Mike Roig, and broadcast associates are Fran Morrison and Charles McDonald. Technical producer is Bob Muller. Our stage manager is Rich Nelson. The studio is produced by Scott Ackerson. Directed by Bob Levy.' The associate director is Jennifer Love. Senior producer is Bill Brown. The executive producers of Fox Sports are Ed Goren and David Hill. Third and 5. Shotgun again. Has time. Gets the first down. Bjornson. 4:00 left. >> That was Troy Aikman's 54th pass. New career high. Randall Cunningham is enjoying this. >> You can't read his lips. Somebody hears him. >> Yeah, they don't let us put microphones down there, do they? >> No. >> You know, Troy Aikman, talking about the number of hits he's taken, he's been hit today, after he's throw the ball, 18 times. That is a real beating. >> Screen pass. Sherman Williams. Inside the 20 to the 17. Another Cowboy first down. 3:20 now, the clock running, as the Cowboys... >> And the quarterbacks have to get tired of throwing the ball today. The pass protectors, you can tell, are tired of pass protecting today because when a quarterback throws more times than he ever had, that means the line pass protected more than they ever had. >> How about the rushers? >> And then the defensive linemen, the defensive rushers, rushed probably for more than they ever had in their life. >> And that is very tiring. >> We have all those things going. Here's John Randle in here now, finally, at tackle again. >> Aikman, quick. To Irvin inside the 10. >> And the biggest thing that John Randle does is spin. This is the thing -- I was at the Cowboy practice the other day, and that's what they were working against. They were working against, as he spins, don't go -- just back off a little and stop him again right as he comes out of his spin because there's no better spinner in football than Johnny Randle. I'm just saying that for all the spinners in the world. >> All you spinners. That includes those on the dance floor. Here's Emmitt Smith again. To about the 6. Coming up to the 2-minute warning. >> That's another thing that fat guys don't do. Fat guys don't fly, nor do they spin. >> That's our group. >> Oh, boy. They even had to rehearse that. >> [ Laughs ] Aikman -- incomplete. Intended for Jeffers. Dwayne Rudd on the coverage. >> The amazing thing is Troy Aikman's thrown 57 passes today, and I was saying earlier how many times he's been knocked down -- 18 times -- but he hasn't been sacked. Part of that is his protection. They're getting very close. But part of that is his feel in the pocket and knowing that he has a clock there, and he knows the guy's there, and he's gonna get rid of the ball. >> He deserves a lot of credit for no sacks. Here's Aikman. He gives to Sherman Williams, and he doesn't get anywhere. That'll bring up a third down. He probably lost a yard. Aikman is 34 out of 57, 455 yards, but one touchdown. >> Yeah, and that was the thing that was so big to him when we talked to him yesterday, that against this team you not only have to move the ball, which they did, complete passes, which they've done, but you have to score points. >> 'Cause you know they're gonna score some points. And you can see -- and that's exactly what happened today. Here's Michael Irvin in the backfield. >> The pitch is out to Sherman Williams. He tried to cut it up the field and got maybe to the 4 before he's knocked out of bounds. That stops the clock. >> How would you like to be Jimmy Hitchcock, the corner out there, and see Larry Allen come running at you? >> Well, he faced it. >> Yeah, that's about all he did is face it. He just held on a little until some help came. That has to be a tough sight. I mean, here's Hitchcock. Watch Larry Allen right here, number 73. Hitchcock has to come up and take that on. He just kind of did a bullfighter thing, jumped to the outside. >> LaFleur just came in the game. Now what do you do? You got to just throw it high for LaFleur, don't you? He's in motion. Sneaking through the middle. The give to Emmitt Smith. And Emmitt walks in for his third touchdown. >> Yeah, they brought LaFleur in not to be a pass receiver but to be a blocker. He started out as tight end. And we're seeing more and more of that in football. Started out as a tight end, then he moved to where he became the fullback. He was in the fullback location, and then he was a lead blocker. We'll see it. Here's LaFleur here. He's gonna come back to here. And then he'll get there and then he'll be the lead blocker. You see him come back. He comes all the way to the other side, and now he's in the fullback position. Then he's the lead blocker, and he makes a pretty good lead block. >> They caught one of the defensive linemen -- I couldn't tell who it was -- in a spinner. And as he was spinning, Emmitt was heading for the end zone. 1:06 left in the game. It's 46-36. The Vikings over the Cowboys. >> "Focus On The Xcitement." I think when they made that sign up -- They usually make signs up the night before the game, not the day of the game. But last night I think they were thinking that the Cowboys would probably provide -- and win the game and provide that excitement. >> There's the guy who makes all the decisions -- producer, Bob Stenner. Director, Sandy Grossman. >> What a team they are, huh? We've been together for 18 years, and we've also been together with Bob Stenner and Sandy Grossman for 18 years. >> They get out of the way, the ball goes out of bounds. A penalty marker comes down. Here's Emmitt Smith's touchdown coming up. >> Yeah, that's the one that ties Marcus Allen's NFL record, 123 rushing touchdowns. You have to look at it again. Fourth down. Good block by David LaFleur. And look where it just put Emmitt Smith. >> All-time touchdown leader, tied with Marcus Allen. Walter Payton 13 back. >> Now we're getting ready for an onside kick here. >> We just had one. >> We're getting ready for another one. >> First one went out of bounds. >> They're getting ready to do it again. In fact, the coach was out on the field with the onside-kick team. He was in the huddle with them. Look at all these guys over here. That's the side they're gonna kick the ball to, unless it's a trick. >> Cunningham who does the onside kick. And the Vikings just let it go out of bounds. Flags come flying. And now Minnesota gets the option, I believe. >> There's Joe Avezzano, the special-teams coach, and he was in the huddle. He was out there on the field with those cover guys. >> He can't down it. >> No, and he can't cover it either. >> Kickoff out of bounds. On the kicking team. Did not go 20 yards untouched by the receivers. By rule, the receivers will take the ball at the out-of-bounds spot. First down. >> And the second time it goes out of bounds, and when it didn't go 20 yards, they get the ball right there. If they didn't do that, they could just kick onside kicks all day. I mean, they give you one, and then that second one they're gonna get it where it goes out of bounds. >> Dallas has been penalized 13 times today for 152 yards. That's what they lost. >> That wasn't what beat the Dallas Cowboys today. This Minnesota team today is the superior team. >> Cunningham gives to Charles Evans. >> Charles Evans is a guy that starts at fullback but doesn't play a lot. "Hey, John, can u spare a leg?" Well, we don't know. We haven't given them out yet. >> This guy needs one. >> The guy's on a crutch. I know it. We got six of them there. I wonder if we gave that guy a leg if he could get rid of the crutch. >> Nate Newton. >> He's gonna go get his son. That's his son, Tré, right there. Ol' Nate brings Tré before the game, brings him to the game, and home after. >> Wonder if any of those six legs tastes differently. I don't know. We'll find out. >> They all taste great. >> That's a good bet.
The NFL's YouTube first full game is in honor of Coach Dennis Green
I like this
This was Randy Moss's "f you" game to Jerry Jones and the Cowboys after that draft.
What a great game. What a great team.
The weirdest thing, though, was definitely seeing young Mike Zimmer on the Cowboys sideline.
Man I miss madden and summerall :(
Deion faking that hammy for this game lol.
First TD - 5:12
Second TD - 26:24
Third TD - 1:52:35
As if we haven't been roasted enough... Y'all savages. Ffs we picked Ellis over him. Lls
Such an insane performance by Moss and Carter - almost had 300 yards combined receiving.