Broncos Defeat Cowboys, Adding Legitimacy to 2009 Campaign

Detractors of the Denver Broncos’ early-season success have a little less to chew on today, after Sunday’s 17-10 victory over the visiting Dallas Cowboys.

A team given a little bit of credit, and a healthy dose of “yeah, but” from its critics over a 3-0 start, the Broncos needed to show they were capable of winning against one of the NFL’s upper-echelon teams.

Wins over Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Oakland, with resounding defense leading the way, had done little to sway many experts into thinking that Denver’s success could carry over into the toughest part of its schedule. With those teams possessing suspect offenses, some doubt could be rightfully cast.  Until now.

Denver took on the league’s top-rated rushing attack, and limited it to just 74 yards (the Cowboys came in averaging over 190 yards per game on the ground). The Broncos added, for good measure, five sacks, an interception, and a recovered fumble, while pressuring Tony Romo often.  The result: Dallas was 3-for-14 on third down.

The Broncos were particularly stingy in the second half in terms of total yardage allowed, while shutting out the Cowboys over the final 45 minutes.  They needed every bit of that airtight defense to pull out the victory.

Denver trailed most of the game, as the Cowboys’ first-quarter dominance had stood up with a 10-7 lead late into the fourth quarter.

With just under six minutes remaining, the Broncos got a 28-yard field goal from Matt Prater, and then took the lead on a highlight-reel catch-and-run touchdown, Kyle Orton to Brandon Marshall.

The 51-yard score with 1:46 remaining began with Marshall picking the ball from just over the top of a Cowboys defender’s head, racing towards the middle of the field, then cutting back to the right again, faking out and eluding several Dallas players in the process of scoring the go-ahead touchdown.

The Broncos still had to hold their breaths until the final seconds, before securing the victory.

Dallas, facing a fourth-down with about a minute to play, connected on an improbable 53-yard gain, moving to the Denver 20. 

The Cowboys moved as close as the two-yard line with nine seconds to play, but on the ensuing two plays, Champ Bailey swatted away the potential game-tying touchdowns, securing the dramatic victory.

The 4-0 Broncos won over many critics who deemed their early-season success a complete mirage. While it will still take time for the sports world to be won over, continued success by Denver is looking more like a legitimate byproduct of an amazing turnaround by the defense, and something sustainable.

Meanwhile, the Denver offense manages to get by with solid rushing, a very good offensive line, and game-managing by Orton which thus far has been largely mistake-free.  While Jay Cutler won many games with extraordinary plays for Denver, he helped contribute to losses with extraordinary risk-taking. 

His Favre-ian abilities make for exciting football, but did not necessarily translate to a winning product for the Broncos.

Time will tell how it all works out for Denver, but so far, Orton at QB has not meant bad things for the Broncos.

Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl.  Surely Orton could, too, with the right players around him.  So far, quarter of the way through the season, those players have looked to be the right combination, for sure. 

Read more Denver Broncos news on BleacherReport.com

Denver Broncos Face Tough Schedule in Quest for Playoff Return

Let’s take a look back: It’s the end of the 2008 season. Mike Shanahan fired. Jay Cutler traded for Kyle Orton and picks. A defense in shambles, having allowed 28 points per game.

Brandon Marshall wanting to be traded and suspended during a portion of the pre-season.  2009 looking like a major rebuilding effort for rookie coach Josh McDaniels.

Fast forward to the end of September. Broncos are 3-0. Orton is playing mistake-free football. Offensive line protecting Orton and creating gaps for the running game as well as ever.

Defense has allowed a total of 16 points over three games, stuffing the run and pressuring the quarterback.

Excuse me?

Any Denver fan couldn’t be happier after a 3-0 start and an early division lead in the AFC West.

As McDaniels and crew will readily admit, there is still much work to do. The schedule does not lie.

The Broncos will face a decidedly stiffer slate of competition in the coming weeks, with stouter offenses and defenses to contend with. 

Can Denver’s offense, minus a prolific passing game, be balanced enough to hang with the big boys?  Can its defense, against better offenses than the anemic Browns and Raiders, continue to impose its will?

Prior to its Week 7 bye, Denver faces Dallas and New England at home, before visiting San Diego for a Monday Night contest.  All playoff-quality teams with potentially explosive offenses.

Coming out of the bye, the Broncos pay a visit to the suddenly dynamic Baltimore Ravens, followed by a home date with Pittsburgh.

For Denver to entertain playoff hopes, it must come out of that stretch with at least two wins, probably three. That would leave the Broncos at 5-3 or 6-2.

With two games remaining with Kansas City, and a home date with Oakland, eight or nine wins would be nearly a certainty assuming no letdowns.

They’d then need a couple of wins in the other second-half games (at Washington, Indy and Philly, home for San Diego and the Giants).

No guarantees, since this team has not been severely tested, and has not shown a penchant for second-half surges in recent years.

Nevertheless, an optimistic outlook heading into October is certainly not what many experts saw coming out of the Mile High City, after a dismal 2008 season and winter of gloom and doom prognostications.

Read more Denver Broncos news on BleacherReport.com

Broncos Stand 2-0 after Defense-Led Home-Opening Win over Browns

After a 2008 season that started as an inferno, and ended colder than an Antarctic winter, Broncos fans have learned that guarded optimism is a way of life in the post-Mike Shanahan/Jay Cutler era.

Yet after a fairly impressive 27-6 win over Cleveland, there are some reasons to believe the 2009 Broncos may not be the debacle many expected this team to be.

The offense was pretty efficient, amassing almost 450 total yards. Kyle Orton wasn’t good (no surprise: 19-of-37), but was not intercepted and was involved enough to even out a good ground attack.

Knowshon Moreno carried 17 times for 75 yards, and Correll Buckhalter added 76 yards including a 45-yard TD scamper midway through the fourth quarter to seal the game.

Jabar Gaffney and Brandon Stokley turned out to the be the big receiving targets, while last year’s No. 1 and No. 2 receivers, Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal, combined for just six catches and 54 yards.

The offensive efficiency, and the defense’s outstanding effort, helped cover up the fact that kicker Matt Prater again was abominable, missing a pair of field goals from inside 40 yards while the game was still close.

The real story of the day was Denver’s defense. Yes. You read that correctly. The revamped squad, under the 3-4 scheme, seems to have turned the corner.

Of course, after last season, anything outside of falling off a cliff with lead boots, would have been an improvement, but there are signs that the Denver defense could be at the very least, respectable, if not more.

With Andra Davis (10 tackles vs. Cleveland) and converted lineman Elvis Dumervil (4 sacks, all in the 2nd half) providing a formidable linebacker tandem, along with Brian Dawkins and Champ Bailey holding watch over the opposing passing game, there could be a quality defense in the making.

The jury is still out though, on what this squad can do against a high-quality offensive team. Neither the Bengals nor Browns are reminiscent of a 400-point offense, to put it mildly. Last year, however, even 200-point offenses found ways to put up points with regularity against the Broncos, so some optimism is warranted.

With a trip to Oakland coming this weekend, the possibility of a 3-0 start for Denver is not unreasonable. The schedule gets much, much harder thereafter (consecutive games against: Dallas, New England, San Diego, Baltimore, & Pittsburgh).

The Broncos will need that 3-0 start, and at least 2-3 wins in that following five-game span, to prove to naysayers that this is a different kind of Denver team than the 2008 disaster was.

Read more Denver Broncos news on BleacherReport.com

BroncosZone Latest

• The Denver Broncos Must Face Their New Reality
• Denver Broncos: The Beginning of a New Era, Or The Beginning of the End?
• Hey Denver, Where’s the Love for Josh McDaniels?
• Josh McDaniels Is the Poster Boy for “Too Much, Too Soon”
• Denver Wide Receiver Brandon Marshall: “I Love Being a Bronco”