Through Vikings' first 10 games, Dalvin Cook is producing like Adrian Peterson did in 2012

Welcome to our morning-after Vikings blog, where we'll revisit every game by looking at three players who stood out, three concerns for the team, three trends to watch and one big question. Here we go:

This is my eighth year covering the Vikings, which means I spent my first year on the beat (2012) witnessing what's been the gold standard of individual performance during those eight years, and perhaps over a much longer stretch of Vikings history: Adrian Peterson's incredible MVP season in 2012.

Here's a reminder of some of the particulars, in case time has dulled them: Peterson averaged 6.0 yards per carry that season, all while carrying the ball 348 times and facing eight-man boxes more than any back in the NFL. He ran for 1,322 yards on 197 carries in the last eight games of that season, carrying a Vikings team that had been 3-13 the previous year to the playoffs, and he did it while playing through a sports hernia that some believe he sustained in his rush back from ACL surgery the previous December.

I say all this to establish how high a precedent Peterson set that year, before writing what might seem like heresy: At least on some levels, Dalvin Cook has a chance to eclipse what Peterson did in 2012.

With 2,097 rushing yards and 217 receiving yards in 2012, Peterson accounted for 2,314 yards on 388 touches — an average of 5.96 yards per touch. Through 10 games, Cook has 1,415 yards (991 rushing and 424 receiving) on 243 touches, which is an average of 5.82 yards per touch. He's had 12 more rushing attempts and 19 more touches through 10 games than Peterson did in 2012, and has accounted for 132 more yards, with three more touchdowns and the same number of fumbles.

Now, what set Peterson apart as he closed on Eric Dickerson's record that season was his otherworldly stretch of games in December, particularly his 409 combined rushing yards in two games against the Packers. He also was playing on a team less talented than the current Vikings group, and put up the bulk of his numbers after Percy Harvin's ankle injury took away the team's other prominent weapon. But by producing at his current level with a workload that has actually eclipsed Peterson's in the first 10 games of 2012, Cook has quelled many of the questions raised by many (including me) before this season. We'll see if he can match Peterson's stirring finish to the 2012 season — but if he comes close, he might find himself in the conversation for some of the awards Peterson claimed that year.

Here are two other Vikings players who stood out during the team's 28-24 win over the Cowboys on Sunday night:

Kirk Cousins: The performance Cousins had on Sunday night wasn't his flashiest — he threw into tight coverage less frequently than any QB in Week 10, according to NFL Next Gen Stats — but isn't what he did for the Vikings on Sunday night exactly what everyone's been waiting to see from him? Cousins had a turnover-free performance, in a prime-time road game against a team with a winning record, and he kept the Vikings' offense moving by going 7 of 10 for 80 yards and a touchdown (with one sack) on third downs. The fact he did it without Adam Thielen, behind an offensive line that lost Brian O'Neill for a handful of snaps and Josh Kline to a concussion, made it all the more impressive. Cousins has been the first to say that wins in these types of games are the only thing that will change the narrative about him, and even if he had something of a complementary role to Cook, he filled it admirably.

Three areas of concern:
The Vikings' secondary: With Trae Waynes out because of an ankle injury on Sunday night, the Cowboys apparently went into the game planning to pick on Mike Hughes, and they targeted him early and often. Hughes is in his first full NFL season — after tearing his ACL last year — and on a few of the balls the Cowboys completed on him, there's not much else Hughes could have done (either because Prescott made a great throw, Amari Cooper employed his nimble sideline footwork or, as many fans pointed out, might have pushed off on several occasions). Still, the Vikings are going to have to contend with the fact teams are going after their corners, with or without a healthy Waynes. They've won every time they've allowed a 300-yard passer this season, and some of the yards they've given up (to Matt Ryan and Carson Wentz, for example) came in games the Vikings had already salted away. Prescott is also one of the NFL's best at extending plays, but the Vikings' next road game features a QB with a similar skill set (Russell Wilson), and their secondary will have to be ready.

Receiving options other than Cook: The Vikings knew they'd be able to hit the Cowboys with some screen passes, given how aggressive Dallas' pass rush is, but Cousins had trouble finding consistent targets beyond the running back (who had 86 yards on seven receptions). Stefon Diggs' circus catch of a 27-yard completion was Cousins' longest throw of the night, and according to Next Gen Stats, only Irv Smith got more than the league average of 2.83 yards of separation from a defender (Bisi Johnson was at 2.4 yards, Kyle Rudolph was at 2.1, Diggs was at 1.83 and Laquon Treadwell at 0.66). The Vikings are likely hoping to get Adam Thielen back by the Seattle game after the bye (if not this Sunday against Denver), and they'll need him down the stretch. Diggs also had a first-quarter end zone throw in his hands until he was hit by Leighton Vander Esch.

Pass protection: Our Mark Craig charted Cousins as being under pressure on eight of his 22 first-half dropbacks; Cousins completed five passes for 53 yards on those plays, and was only sacked once for the night, but was hit seven times in a game where he worked largely with a lead and an effective run game. The Cowboys have a talented group of pass rushers, and the Vikings kept them from doing any real damage, but given how durable Cousins has been, they'd likely prefer to keep him from getting hit a little less than he was on Sunday.

Three trends to watch:
Cousins outside the pocket: The Vikings have made bootlegs and rollouts a staple of their offense all season — one of the first things Zimmer said about Cousins in his introductory press conference was how good the quarterback is on bootlegs — but they worked them to great effect on Sunday night, especially on third downs. Cousins rolled to his right for a 15-yard strike to Bisi Johnson on a 3rd-and-6 in the third quarter (on what turned out to be the last pass he'd throw before 10 straight runs finished off the Vikings' touchdown drive), and he rolled left before lofting an off-balance throw to the back of the end zone for Kyle Rudolph's first of two TDs. "We didn't hit any big explosive [plays] on the bootlegs, but they were there for the most part, and I think it helped change the spot you're throwing from, just so they can't pin their ears back," Cousins said. "We didn't want to get in a dropback game here — I think that would have been a nightmare. Fortunately, we ran the ball, and it took pressure off that straight dropback."

The Vikings' fourth-down decisions: When the Vikings got stopped on the Cowboys' 2 on third down at the end of the third quarter, there was little hesitation on their sideline about what to do next: They decided to go for it, rather than kicking a field goal and taking three points to go up 23-21, and Cook scored on fourth down (the Vikings pushed the lead to 28-21 with a two-point conversion). According to EdjSports, Zimmer's decision to go for it was the third-best coaching move of Week 10, making it 5.1 percent more likely the Vikings would go on to win than if they'd kicked a field goal. It follows a week where he decided to punt near midfield in Kansas City, before opting to go for it on a fourth down in Chiefs territory. Zimmer said last Monday he operates more by feel than analytics in his fourth-down decisions, and is considering a number of factors other than what the data would tell him to do. Still, it's interesting he's made bolder decisions in back-to-back weeks, given how conservative he's typically been on fourth downs. The fact those decisions have worked could make him more likely to bet on his offense in the future.