Dallas - 40, Minnesota - 3
KIRK COUSINS: Not good enough tonight. Got to play better. With a short week this week, it's important that we get right back to it. And we'll be at home Thursday night, so it is important to have a much better performance. So we'll talk about this one and look to improve and need to be better in roughly four days.
That's where our focus goes. We've been winning as a team on this last several weeks of wins, and now we've lost as a team and we've got to bounce back.
I'll take any questions you have.
Q. You were sacked seven times, the most in your career. What were the factors that led to that in your estimation?
A. I think it was a combination of reasons. Certainly when you get behind, then you allow a lot more of a dropback game, so that certainly played into their ability to rush us and play for that.
Q. When they're able to get pressure, most of them with four guys, how does that change how you look at things downfield when they don't have the extra guys coming at you?
A. It's effective. When you can rush four, it's effective. Certainly we want to be in a place where we're not having to drop back too much. And you certainly need to be in a game where you're right there and you're not behind where you have to drop back.
So that's the part that you feel you can stay in the game and then keep yourself from being in those scenarios.
Q. On the strip sack, when you watch that back, did you feel Parsons coming, or what did you see when you looked at that?
A. I just think they need to have two hands on the football is really where I look back. When you watch it and coach it and look at how to improve, if you're holding on with two hands as you're running, it's less likely to fumble there.
So that's where I say I've got to be better.
Q. Is Parsons the kind of guy who you can prepare for but you really can't kind of comprehend his skills until you see him live on Sunday?
A. He's a great player. I find each week, when you study for your opponent, each team seems to have a player, a pass rusher that's pretty elite. He's in that category of one of the better pass rushers in this league that you have to be aware of, and he can impact the game.
Q. Which challenge do you feel like protection was trying to help on the outside, also inside at times in Dallas?
A. There's certainly an awareness of trying to get a chip or some help by a halfback or a tight end on the edge. All game long you're kind of aware of all that.
But certainly when you can stay in manageable down and distances, you can run the football, you can play action, you can screen, you can do other things that, when you get behind, it's just much, much harder to do.
Q. Having won seven straight games, beating Buffalo last week, how much of you is stunned by the margin that you lost by today?
A. It's certainly a disappointing outcome. What I've learned in this league in my years is they all count one. The point differential doesn't end up becoming a thing that sticks with it, but the loss or the win does.
We've got to find a way moving forward to get wins and play much better than we did tonight.
Q. What's going to be key to responding to this on a short week?
A. You've got to fix what's fixable. You have to be out -- just be ready to go Thursday night and have a good Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in preparation for that.
What you don't want to have happen is any repeated mistakes. So you always say how can we fix what happened so that's the last time something like that happens?
Q. Overall, how do you evaluate T.J. over the last three weeks, and how valuable has he been to this offense?
A. He's showing up a lot in our offense. He's done a great job. We'll continue to lean on him moving forward.
Q. Is there anything that he did that helped build so much chemistry between you and him so quickly?
A. Well, he's learned the system very quickly. I think he's a friendly target. I think Kevin's also done a great job incorporating T.J. into the plan. I think in this offense and on this team we'll always be incorporating our Y, our tight ends in this pass game, and there will always be production there to be had.
He's done a great job taking on that challenge in such a short amount of time.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports