DENVER—In my self-proclaimed "pivotal game" of the season for the Dallas Cowboys, played here on one of those postcard Sundays a mile high, this is absolutely, unequivocally the wrong way to start the game.
Cowboys first-and-goal at the Denver 3-yard line on their first possession but ending up at the 1, kicking a 24-yard field goal when they knew good and well they must score touchdowns to cover for their leaky defense, thus only taking a 3-0 lead.
Mistake No. 1.
Then on the Broncos' second possession – the first ending with a Cowboys' interception on the third play of the game – two plays in they were facing a third-and-7 at their own 29-yard line when quarterback Bo Nix threw an incompletion, the Cowboys forcing a punt. Oops, defensive end James Houston is flagged for lining up in the neutral zone, his head hanging over the line of scrimmage. That provided plus 5 yards and a more manageable third-and-2 for Denver. Oh, and how the Broncos managed, Nix completing a 26-yard pass, and two plays later rookie running back R.J. Harvey exposes the Cowboys run defense with a 40-yard touchdown run.
Mistake No. 2.
Bear with me, we have a ways to go.
Cowboys next possession, two plays later, Tyler Guyton false starts, now second-and-11. The Cowboys knew they could not fall behind the chains when facing the NFL's sack leaders (34 in seven games), thus needing to pass on third down to pick up the necessary 5 yards. So here comes the Broncos' pressure, sack leader Nick Bonitto smoking Guyton, forcing Dak Prescott to scramble. Though with no chance of running away from John Franklin-Myers, he suffers a 13-yard sack, having to punt the ball away.
Mistake No. 3.
And it took Denver only five plays to cover 62 yards, the final 25 a Nix pass to rookie Troy Franklin for his first NFL touchdown, the Broncos exposing the lack of quality depth at the Cowboys' safety position. Since they were down three of their top four safeties in this game, Dallas was forced to start an undrafted rookie free agent, Alijah Clark, who began the season on the practice squad. Suddenly, 14-3.
Mistake No. 4.
Hey, this all in four seconds less than 12 minutes.
And mistake No. 5, not going to pin this on Terence Steele being flagged for holding, minus-10 yards, since he did a good job of blocking Broncos outside linebacker and sack artist Jonathan Cooper. But when Dak pulled out to run for 6 yards down to the Denver 36, certainly in Brandon Aubrey field goal range, Cooper turns his back to chase Dak and head referee Carl Cheffers sees Steele's hands on the guy's back. To me, Cheffers' mistake.
And if all that were not enough, after the Cowboys cut the lead to 14-10, Nix lets sail a deep ball to Franklin, again taking advantage of Clark, who clumsily stumbles into Franklin for a 32-yard pass interference, and within three minutes, it's 20-10.
And you know what, heard the Broncos' radio broadcast point out Oct. 26 was opening day for one of the Rocky Mountain ski resorts in Summit County, like an hour's drive west of the city. Well, must have witnessed the season's first avalanche, too, rolling down Empower Field, the Broncos burying the Cowboys, 44-24.
Why, the 44 is the most points the Broncos have scored since the 2013 season. The 27 they scored in the first half the most since the 2019 season. And again, the 44 for the now 6-2 Broncos, winners of five straight and eight straight at home, is the most they've have scored all season long. Like, 11 more than they put on the Giants last week in the fourth quarter in that 33-32 win. That means Denver has scored 77 points in the last five quarters of football.
Gosh, if only at the two-minute, first-half warning, they would have allowed those performing the halftime-themed show "Vamos Broncos," ropes in hand, to remain in place on the Cowboys' bench-area sideline. Maybe they could have helped the Dallas defense lasso the Broncos.
Just pitiful, the Cowboys losing another opportunity to win two consecutive games, to inch their record above .500 for the first time this season and to somewhat stay on the heels of the now NFC East first-place 6-2 Eagles.
But no – again – instead the Cowboys are facing a 3-4-1 record, down three games in the win column to Philadelphia, as they speed toward their bye and the Nov. 4 trade deadline, with just Arizona in the way next Monday night. And silly me pointing out if the Cowboys could have won this game in Denver, where they have not won since 1992, and with beatable Arizona, the bye and the Raiders all up next, 6-3-1 seemed plausible.
Not so much, and this inconsistency sure doesn't inspire owner Jerry Jones to pursue a trade deadline move that could provide the last piece of this Cowboys' 2025 puzzle driving for a playoff spot. Problem is, their puzzle is a jigsaw one, scattered pieces everywhere from a personnel standpoint.
Former Cowboys pass game coordinator under Bill Parcells and now Broncos head coach Sean Payton exposed every single wart this defense has, as if the salve of thumping the Commanders a week ago had worn off. Once again, no pass rush. Nary a sack of Nix, and worse only one QB hit, the second-year quarterback having the time of day to throw for 247 yards and four touchdowns by completing 22 of 29 passes and at one point eight straight.
Why, for seemingly the umpteenth time the Cowboys couldn't stop the run, only Carolina's 216 yards rushing more than the Broncos' 179, the sixth time in eight games Dallas has given up at least 136 in a game.
And four the fourth time in the past three games, the Cowboys were kicking field goals from the 11-yard line, the 5, the 9 and now the 1, settling for three when on the precipice of scoring seven.
Worse, injuries are taking their toll. Once again, the Cowboys were without Trevon Diggs (concussion protocol) and feeling sufficient dissatisfaction with the one-time Pro Bowl cornerback to the point of having placed him on injured reserve Friday, meaning he must miss three more games. And their reasoning so far has been veiled, though even Jerry seemingly losing his patience, saying, "He just generally needs to get in better shape to play."
So without Diggs, and Payton didn't waste any time getting into his three-receiver sets and forcing the Cowboys into a nickel defense, here they were moving DaRon Bland into the slot, leaving the outside corners to Kaiir Elam and Trikweze Bridges, who was a seventh-round draft choice of the Chargers that the Cowboys claimed off waivers and a rookie making his first NFL start. And, boy, did the Broncos ever pick on him, save his first-possession interception on a badly thrown pass.
Also, the Cowboys were already missing both starting safeties in the secondary, and then their next man up on top of that. And then Clark leaves the game with a rib injury, forcing nickel corner Reddy Steward to play safety.
Not making this stuff up.
And this defensive line, after an active performance against the Commanders the week prior, Sunday was same ol', same ol'. According to the game-day stats, of the Cowboys' 51 tackles, nine defensive linemen accounted for just 11 of them, and the only ones with more than one tackle were Osa Odighizuwa and Jadeveon Clowney with two each.
Plus, knowing this offense must score thirty-something to cover the defensive deficiencies, and now obviously even forty-something necessary, the Denver defense gave the Cowboys fits, especially when Dallas floundered in pass-man mode. Dak was sacked twice, hit eight times and maybe even worse 12 of the Cowboys' 13 incompletions (Joe Milton went three of four) were passes defensed. For most of the time, Dak was under siege, getting picked off twice, his first interceptions in the past five games. And those 31 yards rushing he totaled, that came because he was flushed out of the pocket on five of his six carries to avoid sacks. As Dak qualified, "That wasn't the game plan."
Now, after suffering this "humbling" loss, not my word but head coach Brian Schottenheimer's, the Cowboys must hope once again that after coming up way short with a chance to crawl over .500, the Broncos did not steal their soul. This loss reminds of the one to the Bears, 31-14, but far worse, this by 20. The other two losses were by four points and three points. and the Cowboys were within one second of avoiding the overtime tie. At least close.
As you probably saw, this was not close. The Broncos on this day were a much better team than what we've been perceiving as a talented Cowboys team, at least on offense, and even that unit failed on Sunday.
Afterward, someone asked Dak about this team's identity, like, what is it after eight games? And credit to him, Dak didn't out of frustration rhetorically say, "Identity?" as if to suggest why are you even asking me that.
"Talking about identity, we're trying to find it," Dak said. "We were far from anything we've been, especially on the offensive side of the ball today. That's just as frustrating as anything. We didn't even play to our identity. We didn't play to our standard. We have to find a way to do that on the road."
And he's right, not even close, now 1-4 on the road this season and that lone win over a Jets team having won its first game of the season on Sunday in Week 8.
"You want to put an identity together, but right now our identity is up and down," Dak reasoned, and went on to say, "Win, lose, win, lose, you want to put a streak together."
Got that right.
And now the pressure is on after this loss in the roller-coaster season to win because the last thing these Cowboys want is to streak in the wrong direction.
