This Sunday the Dallas Cowboys come to town to face off against one of the best defenses in the league and against Bo Nix, who has never lost while donning the Denver throwbacks, and this game may just
be one of the hardest matchups the Broncos will have all year long.
This is a matchup that dates all the way back to the 1970s and Denver owns an all-time record of 9-4 over “America’s Team” (that hasn’t been accurate for decades now) and the Cowboys haven’t won since 1995. The last time these two teams faced off was in 2021 where the Broncos would beat up against Dallas on the road. But these teams look incredibly different since the last time they met.
Let’s see how the Broncos can keep their five-game winning streak against the Cowboys going.
1. Get the turnovers going
They Cowboys boast one of the best offenses in the league as both Dak Prescott and Javonte Williams are second in the league in passing and rushing yards, respectively. They have the most yards per game, including the second-most passing yards per game. They have the second-most points per game at 31.7, trailing just the Colts. There’s no way around the fact that the Cowboys offense is a legitimate threat to even the best of defenses, especially with Ceedee Lamb back in action.
And while they’ve only faced two top-10 defenses, they managed to put up 40 against the Packers and 27 against the Panthers. So no matter who they’re going up against, they’re going to put up points. And they’re doing this at an even turnover margin. They’ve forced three fumbles and three INTs while giving up four INTs and two fumbles. While they Broncos defense is elite, they have not done a good job at generating turnovers.
Sitting at a turnover margin of -2 and forcing just five turnovers on the year, the Broncos need to find a way to make the Cowboys cough up the ball on Sunday. It was a massive INT that turned the tide in their favor against the Giants and they’ll have to recreate that magic again this week.
2. Find a way to get pressures on Dak Prescott
One of the reasons Dak Prescott and the Dallas offense has been so good is because of their offensive line. The Cowboys have given up the same amount of sacks the Broncos have this year: eight. These teams are tied for the second-least amount given up, with just the Colts giving up less (six). If the Broncos want to cool off this red-hot offense, Nik Bonitto and company need to get home.
While this pass rush has done an incredible job this year at getting to the quarterback (leading the league in sacks and they have eight more than the team in second place), they’ll need to step things up on Sunday. It’ll be up to Vance Joseph to dial up those exotic blitzes he’s known for to keep Prescott and the offensive line guessing. It’ll be good to throw a variety of looks at them early to test their defenses and see if there’s a gap in the fence they can exploit.
3. Keep the offense on schedule
I hit on it last week, and while it’s an obvious issue, the Broncos have to limit their penalties. Luckily when it comes to offensive penalties, the Broncos don’t struggle with too many. There has been an uptick in holds on kick off returns that needs to be fixed, however.
The Broncos have had 30 offensive penalties called against them and that’s taken away a total of 234 yards. They average over 40 offensive and special teams penalty yards a game. If they can keep this going, then that’ll bode well to keeping drives alive and keeping the Cowboys off of the field.
The Broncos also have to fix their drop issue. They currently sit at the third-most drops in the league with 15. They lead only the Jags and Browns. Every week you see this become an issue that hampers this offense. And it was very obvious from the get-go last week when they started the game with consecutive drops (Nix can be blamed for one of them) and this would clearly affect them. Drops are drive killers, just like penalties are. They can’t afford to get behind early against a team like the Cowboys.
