The Broncos (4-0) came into today’s contest against the Cowboys (2-2) undefeated but many criticized that they had yet to play against any good talent. Denver beat Cincinnati (3-1), Cleveland (0-4), and Oakland (1-3). But Dallas brought a respectable team that had averaged over 200 yards per game coming into the mile high city.

And even though some, like Troy Aikman, thought the game would be a shoot-out, it was anything but. This was a classic hard-nosed battle in which defenses shined and offenses couldn’t cope.

To start the game, the Cowboys’ offense looked strong while the Broncos’ O struggled mightily. After both teams were forced to punt on their first drives, Dallas drove down the field with three straight first downs and an eight-play 40 yard drive ending up in a 49-yard field goal. Denver forced itself into a three-and-out because of a penalty on their next drive and had to punt to Dallas once again.

The Cowboys drove with ease, as Tony Romo passed for 59 yards of the 61 Dallas went for a touchdown and the Cowboys led 10-0 after the first quarter.

Denver’s offense strained to make any progress once again and punted the ball away, but that is when the Broncos defense decided to play tougher. Reportedly, Brian Dawkins yelled at his defensive teammates and told them it was time to make a stand, and that’s exactly what happened. After starting on their own 12 yard line, the Cowboys got a first down but then after a tripping penalty, Denver made their first huge play on defense all day.

Defensive coordinator Mike Nolan sent a safety blitz with Renaldo Hill, who came in untouched and forced the ball from Romo’s hands for a fumble. The Broncos recovered the ball on the Dallas nine and the next play Kyle Orton passed the ball to Knowshon Moreno for Denver’s first points of the day. So, five minutes into the second quarter and the Cowboys still led 10-7.

Neither team could do much to end the first half, as Denver kept stopping themselves with penalties and Dallas decided to go to half rather than risking another turnover.

The first play of the second half, Knowshon Moreno fumbled a ball deep in the Broncos territory, at the 27. Romo though, made another mistake and through a ball to the sideline when his receiver went inside and Champ Bailey made an amazing interception. The Denver O bogged down though and they were forced to punt again. On Dallas’ drive, Romo was sacked again on their second first down which forced them into a difficult situation and they had to punt again.

On the next Broncos drive, which started on their eight yard line, was the first time Denver had run the ball effectively all day. McDaniels showed his confidence in the rookie Moreno as Knowshon ran the ball seven times for 19 yards on the drive. But, as McDaniels gambled on a fourth and one call, Moreno, the Broncos, and young Josh came up short. Denver should have kicked the field goal, and would have tied the game with a Matt Prater make, 10-10. Instead, the Cowboys remained in the lead by three points.

On the biggest drive of the game for Denver’s defense, they came up massive to give the ball back to the offense and a chance at a game-winning drive. The Cowboys did get three first downs on the drive, but on second and 13, Vonnie Holliday sacked Romo for a four yard loss and put Dallas into a third and 17. Romo’s subsequent pass was incomplete and the defense gave Orton and the offense a chance to win the game with 2:47 remaining in the contest.

Denver went into the two minute warning with the ball on their 35-yard line, hoping to get into field goal range for the win—what they got was much more than they expected.

Kyle Orton finally risked a throw and it paid off in a substantial way for the Broncos. Orton under threw a pass that was luckily high enough for Marshall and his 6’ 5” frame to go up and grab over Dallas’ Terrance Newman. Then Marshall took off, down the field and to the middle, only to stop on a dime and reverse directions, making two Cowboys collide and cruised into the end zone. Denver finally had its first lead at 17-10 with 1:46 in the game.

In the next drive the game seemed to be over, as the Broncos made the Cowboys go for it on fourth-and-three, but Romo made an amazing play to save Dallas’ chance at the win. Romo was flushed out of the pocket but tossed a great touch-pass to Sam Hurd who took the ball 53 yards to the Denver 20. Romo then threw two short passes in a row to take the Cowboys to the Broncos’ eight-yard line but Dallas had to call their final timeout with :27 left.

Again Romo passed short for six yards down to the Denver two-yard line and Dallas had to spike the ball to stop the clock with a mere nine seconds remaining. The whole contest came down to the final two plays as this classic would have to be won as it was all day, by the Broncos’ defense.

For some reason, the Cowboys decided to attack one of the greatest corner backs in the league and today’s player of the game, Champ Bailey, on two consecutive passes over the middle. The first was easily deflected by Champ, and he got his hand on the second ball as well, along with Jack Williams’ helmet on Hurd’s belly and the ball.

McDaniels was pleased with Champ saying, “We did a nice job of denying the ball there on the last two [plays]. We blitzed them. We were going to make him [Romo] throw fast and he did and Champ was in great position.”

The Broncos defended their home stadium and improve to 4-0 for the first time since 2003.

Following the game, Josh McDaniels was seemingly ecstatic when talking about his team. “I’m proud of our team. It’s a sixty-minute game against a really good football team. I give Dallas a lot of credit.”

McDaniels on Marshall’s game-winning touchdown, “He made a great catch and an even better run. Maybe one of the best runs I’ve ever seen after the ball was in his hands. And that’s just what a great player will do and that’s was he is.”

In all, despite some struggles early including penalties leading to punts, the offense still played solidly against a good Dallas defense. Orton out-played the more hyped Romo with a 20-29 for 243 yards and two touchdowns. Romo was a less efficient 25-42 with 255 yards, an interception, and a fumble.

Following the game Orton said, “I don’t listen to things about me. I play this game to win football games and compete with 53 other guys. It is not about me. It is not about what happened in the offseason. It is about working hard every week and competing our butts off. Every chance that you get to play a football game, you play as hard as you can. That is the approach that I take. If that means that I throw for 100 yards or 300 yards, I’ll be happy either way as long as we win.”

But really, the game was won by the Denver defense, not with Orton and the O.

Denver held Dallas to only 74 yards rushing on the day, a considerable drop-off from their usual 193.7 per game. The pass rush constantly confused and overwhelmed Romo, who was sacked four times in total, one of which resulted in the fumble that gave the Broncos their first score of the day.

So, now the Broncos have had their first respectable test of the year, and they passed, even if it wasn’t with flying colors. The defense showed up in a huge way even after getting down by 10 points early, and didn’t allow a single point in the last three quarters of the game. The offense, after repeatedly slowing themselves down with penalties and misfires in the first half, produced well in the second half.

After four weeks of play the Broncos sit at 4-0, more wins then some thought they could get all year, as one of only five undefeated teams remaining in the NFL. And Denver sits a mile high atop the AFC West as all divisional opponents the Raiders (6-29), Chiefs (16-27), and Chargers (28-38) all lost today.

Instead of all the “doom and gloom” that national and local media had predicted, it seems everyone in the Broncos organization has come into this 2009 season energized, and united under McDaniels’ ideology of team-first.

In Broncos Country, everything’s tinted in a beautiful orange and blue like a Colorado sunset so far in 2009.

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