Ezekiel Elliott, the highest-paid running back in NFL history, was the third-best running back on the field at AT&T Stadium Sunday night.
For fans, the Vikings’ 28-24 stiff-arming of Elliott’s Cowboys was thrilling. For Dalvin Cook’s agents, it was a three-hour, 33-touch PowerPoint presentation they’ll no doubt use when it comes time to butt heads with Vikings salary cap guru Rob Brzezinski. And for the many NFL teams leery of overpaying running backs, Vikings rookie Alexander Mattison was another fresh-legged example of the position’s many younger, cheaper and still high-quality laborers.
Monday, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer was asked whether there was much drop off between Cook, the best back in football, and Mattison, who ran the ball eight times for 52 yards and a game-high 6.