They finally did it.
The Denver Broncos played a fairly complete game from start to finish and completely outclassed their opponent.
That they achieved it without arguably their most talented player in Patrick
Surtain II, for half of the game, speaks to the quality of the franchise as it stands under the leadership of Sean Payton.
You can make the easy argument that every facet of the game worked for the Broncos. They ran and stopped the run. They passed and defended the pass well. The Special Teams unit made big plays.
It was simply complementary football at its finest.
Offense
This is what good offensive football teams look like when they face an opponent missing multiple starters in its secondary in a defense that isn’t that good to begin with.
Payton had the offense dialed in on all of the holes of the Cowboys’ backfield, and they beat that drum on the way to 44 points on the day.
The run game was massive with 179 total yards on the day. The line kept Bo Nix sack-free. The Broncos had 4 touchdown passes for the 2nd week in a row.
It was a fun offensive game for Broncos Country to enjoy after so many weeks of nail-biting games coming down to the last second.
Quarterbacks
Bo Nix started the game off with an interception on a poorly thrown ball completely behind his receiver. It was either a bone-headed misfire by the quarterback or a completely wrong route by the WR (my money is on the latter…looking at the repla,y Nix seemed pretty set when he made the throw, and it did not get tipped).
On his first touchdown throw of the game, he was looking for a corner route that was very well defended and instantly switched to Franklin (his #2 option on the play), who was coming open out of his break for an easy touchdown. He knew exactly when the coverage would break and made an excellent throw.
Nix showed such excellent command of the offense throughout the game. His pass to Pat Bryant, Jr. was as good as it gets as far as ball placement goes. He dropped it right over his shoulder and made it look easy.
Line
Big props to the guys up front in this game. The offensive line dominated. When you have a line play this well, it makes the game look easy for the offense.
My favorite play for the line was on R.J. Harvey’s first touchdown. Garrett Bolles blocked his guy play-side perfectly. Quinn Meinerz completely destroyed Shemar James, then buried poor Alijah Clark in the dirt. It was football art.
Running Backs
Welcome to the NFL, R.J. Harvey! This game showcased the play-making ability that the Broncos saw in him coming out of the draft. His speed was on showcase on the early touchdown run where he took full advantage of excellent blocking to house the rock. He also got a wildcat quick snap for a 2nd touchdown, catching the Cowboys napping as they took the bait with Bo Nix motioning out to the right side of the formation. He also had another receiving touchdown on a rollout play inside the red zone with Nix. He ended the game with 7 rushes for 46 yards (averaging 6.6) with 2 touchdowns running, and his one catch for a 5-yard touchdown.
J.K. Dobbins was a dominant force in this game with 15 runs for 111 yards (an average of 7.4 yards per carry). He read his blocks perfectly with a cut back run for 20+ yards in the 1st. To kick off the 2nd half, Dobbins takes an inside run to the outside and gains 25 yards. In his post-game interview, he spoke about how he was meant to be in Denver. I agree completely. He’s a superb fit for this offense and has a bright future in the orange and blue.
Receivers
Troy Franklin really turned it around this week, catching 6 of 8 targets for a team-leading 89 yards, with 2 touchdowns on the day. Franklin got an easy touchdown in the back of the end zone on a filthy route that forced his defender to take one step too many toward the inside before he twisted to the outside. This game really showcased the smooth route-running improvements Franklin has made over the past year. He
Pat Bryant, Jr. gets his first touchdown on a deep throw to the corner of the end zone. Great concentration and secured the ball all the way to the ground to seal the score on a 2-minute drill at the end of the half. He looked to me to be the culprit on the early interception with a possible wrong route. I’m sure they’ll iron that out in practice. Bryant is getting the right amount of snaps and work so far in his rookie season. He’s got a lot of work to do to round into form. If he keeps getting it dialed in, he’s going to be a very dangerous receiver to have on the field at the same time as Troy Franklin and Courtland Sutton.
Evan Engram was a stud in this game, catching all 4 of his targets for 36 yards, with all of them being for first downs. I notice Engram getting more looks on 3rd downs, which says a lot about Nix’s rapport and trust in him to get key targets. One of his best conversions was early in the 4th quarter on 3rd and 10. He made the catch and fought forward to get the first down yardage needed.
The Cowboys had a plan to shut down Courtland Sutton, which largely worked. He had 4 catches for 67 yards (still a decent output when he was seeing a lot of bracketed coverage). He did have a signature bad drop for an easy touchdown that honestly couldn’t have been thrown any better.
Defense
I was sweating this game a bit for our defense. The Cowboy offense is one of the more potent offenses in the NFL, with one of the best tandems of wide receivers as well, in George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb. Last week’s defensive woes looked like a fluke, and I hoped it was. I knew this Cowboy game would show us for sure whether there were cracks forming in the defense or whether they just had an off week.
Vance Joseph had this team ready to go with a plan for the Cowboys. Even losing the defense’s best player didn’t faze them. VJ largely rushed the typical 4 and trusted them to create enough pressure to shake up Dak Prescott.
With the starters playing, they held the Cowboys offense to 17 points. That’s a big win in my books.
Front 7
Dondrea Tillman gets the dagger in the heart play to intercept the ball inside the red zone and return it to midfield. He had a nice pass defense in the game as well. Not bad for a rotational linebacker.
Alex Singleton once again led the team in tackles with 11. He made a superb play, spearing his helmet into the arms of a ball carrier to force a fumble. He did have his signature flat-footed pass defense waiting for the tight end to gain extra yards while he watched instead of attacking.
John Franklin-Myers chases down a big sack for a huge loss on 3rd down. He had a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit on the day as well.
Jonathan Cooper loops under his man to rush a 3rd and 20 throw and force a bad throw. He almost got an interception on a short throw. He did get a quarterback hit and defended two passes. That being said, he was consistently pressuring his side of the formation to keep Prescott uncomfortable.
Secondary
I can’t give Riley Moss enough credit for how well he plays corner for this team. He gave up a big pass early due to OPI push off by Lamb. Outside of that, I thought he played a great game. He had an immaculate pass defense in the end zone to swat the ball away from Lamb. He also swatted away an errant throw to the sideline on a rushed play. The 2nd PI call on Moss was absolute nonsense. That was just a ref throwing a flag on a guy because it looked messy. If you watch the replay, there was no interference.
Patrick Surtain, II got a nice pass defense in the end zone. He was a trooper trying to come back into the game after his shin injury, but ultimately, his pectoral injury put him on the sideline.
Jahdae Barron snagged an interception to end the first half of the game on superb coverage of the tight end down the middle of the field. Prescott should never have thrown the pass, and Barron made him pay for it.
Ja’Quan McMillian’s fumble recovery may not be on the stat sheet, but he absolutely recovered the fumble the refs gave to the Cowboys. Outside of that theft, he had 2 pass defenses on the day.
Special Teams
Marvin Mims, Jr. showed why you shouldn’t let him catch returns. He opened up the 2nd half with a big return across the 50 with some really patient running and great vision, understanding where his blocks would be.
Final Thoughts
I think in my mind, the jury is still out a bit on this offense. Until we see them have a consistent identity, I’m not sure what we’ll get each week. To me, after 8 games, that’s okay with a unit as young as the offense is overall. There are a lot of young players getting developed, and some up-and-down play is to be expected. The past two games make me think the offense is trending in the right direction.
This Broncos defense is absolute nails, though. I wouldn’t have expected them to handle the Dallas Cowboys without Surtain as easily as they did. This defense is so well-coached and seemingly has answers for everything.
There’s a ton of football left to be played with the same kind of variation of good and bad teams left on the Broncos’ schedule. What we need to see is more solid wins like this over the weaker opponents. Chaining together some solid wins will help solidify their playoff prospects.
