The Cowboys’ playoff chances slipped further from reality following the home loss to the Vikings on Sunday Night Football, 34-26. But the most exciting play of the night from a Cowboys standpoint, a play the specialists have been practicing for many weeks, nearly slipped through their hands as well.
Bryan Anger’s nifty over-the-shoulder toss to kicker Brandon Aubrey on a fake field goal in the first quarter was a fun bit of trickeration. Spotted on the left hash, Anger took the snap from deep snapper Trent Sieg, remained in place kneeling down as if he were spotting the ball for Aubrey, but instead flipped the ball over his right shoulder to Aubrey, who sprinted to his right for a 6-yard gain and a first down. The drive culminated in Javonte Williams’ TD run that gave Dallas an early 7-0 lead.
In a game of inches (or in some cases, centimeters), the football grazed Anger’s helmet when he tossed it over his shoulder. For all the timing and planning that went into the gadget play, Anger nearly doinked the ball off his own helmet. Doh!
As for Williams’ TD run to cap the drive, there was no exuberant celebration for Williams. Instead, he headed straight to the blue medical tent on the Cowboys’ sideline so Dr. Dan Cooper could examine his shoulder. Williams actually suffered the injury three plays earlier on a 2-yard run. He took himself out of the game and was replaced by Malik Davis for a play. Williams re-entered the game to score his 10th rushing TD of the season, his left arm dangling a bit as he ran to the sideline following the play.
Cowboys
A small video camera is seen inside one of the end zone Salvation Army kettles during the second half of an NFL football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Minnesota Vikings at AT&T Stadium on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Arlington.
Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer
Delayed debut for “Kettle Cam”: I was hoping Williams, or any other Cowboy who scored a touchdown, would leap into one of the Salvation Army red kettles because NBC’s crew rigged each of the four kettles with cameras. During pregame, I pointed out the cameras to TE Jake Ferguson (who already knows a thing or two about celebrating in a kettle) so that he could plan something even more special, or at least know he needed to smile for the camera.
But when your offense scores only two TDs, and your star running back’s shoulder is hurting after his TD run, it means we’ll have to wait for the debut of Kettle Cam.
Williams missed the remainder of the first half, returning in time for the start of the third quarter.
It was a busy night on the sideline for the Cowboys’ medical team, especially when tending to players with the last name Williams.
DT Quinnen Williams, whose first-quarter interception helped set up the fake FG and subsequent TD, checked into the blue medical tent early in the second quarter for a cognitive evaluation. He returned to action after missing just a few plays.
But when Quinnen required a second cognitive evaluation in the fourth quarter, he went straight to the locker room and missed the remainder of the game. His status will be updated by coach Brian Schottenheimer during Monday’s press conference.
Nate Thomas, who has started three straight games at left tackle for Tyler Guyton (ankle), suffered a left shoulder injury in the second half and was replaced by swing tackle Hakeem Adeniji.
No insignificant plays: Only three seconds remained on the clock when Aubrey’s 37-yard FG knotted the score at 17-17 just before halftime. What could go wrong in 3 seconds, right? Just kick the ball out of the back of the end zone, or make sure you keep the kickoff returner from popping a 90-plus yard return for a score, and then everyone can head to the locker room for a halftime snack.
Except the kickoff was fielded in the landing zone and returned 23 yards by Myles Price, who was hit so hard by fullback Hunter Luepke that Luepke suffered a concussion and missed the remainder of the game.
What should have been an insignificant play to run off the final few seconds affected the remainder of the game, and maybe next week’s game if Luepke remains in concussion protocol for a full week.
Luepke had a season-high five touches in the first half (3 rushes, 2 receptions, 30 scrimmage yards). He was well on his way to a season high in snaps (15 through two quarters), his previous high being 21 snaps at Detroit. How much did Luepke’s absence in the second half affect Schottenheimer’s call sheet? We’ll ask Schotty this week.
Luepke is also a core member of special teams, so his absence affected coordinator Nick Sorensen’s decisions on personnel in the second half.
Linebacker changes: It took five games for Logan Wilson to supplant Kenneth Murray Jr. as the Cowboys’ starting middle linebacker. Wilson, acquired via trade from the Bengals on Nov. 4, had alternated defensive series the previous four games with Murray, who started the first 13 games of the season. Wilson started Sunday night and played 53% of the snaps. Murray still got significant playing time (40%) but the change has been made at least to which player starts the game. The two MLBs, however, combined for only two tackles.
And Schottenheimer said during the week this would be OLB DeMarvion Overshown’s first game “without limitations” in regards to monitoring his snap counts during the short work weeks before and after the Thursday games. Overshown played a season-high 51 snaps (93%) and led the team with seven tackles. There was a defensive package in which Overshown was the lone LB on the field, which meant he had to take over the “green dot” duties of relaying the defensive play calls to his teammates.
Still no Diggs: Not seeing the consistency they want on and off the practice field from CB Trevon Diggs, and mindful of his health as he tries to return from a stint on injured reserve because of a knee injury, the staff decided to keep Diggs on the reserve list for another game. Diggs has now missed eight straight games. He watched Sunday night’s game from the sideline.
The Dirty Dozen: Each home contest, the franchise honors a former player as the “Legend of the Game.” Sunday night was super special because the 1975 draft class, known in Cowboys’ lore as “The Dirty Dozen,” was on hand to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of 12 rookies making the 43-man roster.
During our Cowboys Radio pregame show, I had the honor to interview so many crowd favorites from that class, including Hall of Fame DT Randy White, LB Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson, MLB Bob Breunig, OT Pat Donovan and LB Rolly Woolsey. Also on hand for the festivities were FB Scott Laidlaw, G Burton Lawless, S Randy Hughes, WR Percy Howard and OL Kyle Davis. Herb Scott, the Pro Bowl offensive lineman, attended a luncheon for the group the week leading into the game.
The ovation The Dirty Dozen received when shown on the video board during the first quarter was raucous and well-deserved.
The late Mitch Hoopes (1953-2020), a former Cowboys punter, was the 12th member of the class.
Quote of the day: J.J. McCarthy’s execution of a great play call in the second quarter when the Vikings faced 4th and goal at the 1-yard line resulted in the QB having enough time to dance the Griddy before crossing the goal line. Everyone bit on the fake handoff up the middle, including LBs Marist Liufau and Overshown.
To say that McCarthy had a clear path to the end zone was an understatement, leading Brad Sham on the Cowboys Radio play-by-play to exclaim, “Mike McCarthy could have scored on that one!”
Kristi Scales is the sideline reporter for the Dallas Cowboys Radio Network. She writes this column for The Dallas Morning News after each Cowboys game.
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