Cowboys shut down in Denver: Postgame quick takes

The Dallas Cowboys were dominated in nearly every way by the Denver Broncos on Sunday afternoon. Here are some Sport DFW postgame quick takes

All the good feelings from last week were quickly put to bed today, as the Denver Broncos stomped the life out of the Dallas attack. Dallas was shut down in all phases of the game in Denver: offense, defense, run, pass, it was all Denver.

Let’s break down some quick takes…

Reid Hanson

The Cowboys are built on the running game, and everything from there, both offensively and defensively, occurs on the back of said running game. When Denver appeared to shut the run down early, Dallas abandoned the running game completely. It’s self-sabotage to only give Ezekiel Elliott the ball five times through two and a half quarters.

Only until the Cowboys fell behind by 25 points did Jason Garrett and staff attempt to correct the issue. Sadly, that didn’t happen until the tail end of the third quarter and by then it was too little too late. The Cowboys did everything I said they could not in “5 keys to victory“, and even refused to use Dak’s legs when they lost faith in Zeke. Again – lost faith after only five carries.

No single thing can be blamed for this loss, but the Cowboys did themselves no favors by abandoning the running game so soon. The only good news is that DeMarcus Lawrence backed up his week one performance with another strong one today making a breakout season more legitimate by the day.

Dink Kearney

Simply put, the Dallas Cowboys were thoroughly beaten by the Denver Broncos on both sides of the ball to tune of 42-17. The Cowboys defense was pathetic, as it made Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian look like a Hall of Fame quarterback. Siemian threw four touchdown passes and converted seven straight first downs. The Cowboys defense allowed a 100 yard rusher for the first time since January 2016 when Redskins running back Alfred Morris ran for over 100 yards.

The Broncos defense stifled the Cowboys running game as Zeke rushed for under 10 YARDS. Dak had a decent game until Von Miller came alive and sacked him twice, but Dak was constantly knocked down, pressured, hurried, and hit several times as he threw the ball.

Although Dak threw for a pair of touchdowns, he had two interceptions (one a pick-6) and his receivers didn’t help as Brice Butler, Dez Bryant, and even the sure handed Jason Witten dropped passes. All in all, the Cowboys were soundly beaten. And out coached. Forget about the injuries to the secondary, No excuses, the Cowboys need to regroup because there is a blueprint on how to beat them, and beat them badly!

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Dan Ruppert

Pathetic, the word I heard most on Twitter. The Denver Broncos has a defense, and a defense I wish the Dallas Cowboys had. The Dallas Cowboys looked worse than pathetic. The offense looked off, but there was one positive from this game: DeMarcus Lawrence. Other than him, it looked like this team was unprepared and outclassed.

Some of the blame has to fall on the coaching staff, but much of it has to fall on the players.

If we want to see what a good secondary looks like we need to model ourselves after Denver. This was a display of how far this defense has to come to become a championship caliber defense.

I was fooled last week without Odell Beckham and it’s becoming clear this Cowboys defense might be worse than last season. If people thought the secondary couldn’t be worse without Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne I present game two of 2017. This was one of the worst performances I have seen in a long time from a Dallas defense.

The pass rush was okay, considering the lack of holding calls, but the secondary was a mess. With the injuries now, I fear for this defense. It puts way too much pressure on the offense, which without Ezekiel Elliott making plays, is just okay. Although, it is hard to run on eight and nine man boxes.

I would look for a refocused effort from the Dallas Cowboys next week against the Cardinals. But this game gives pause on if this team is a Super Bowl contender. It is early in the season, but without vast improvement, this defense is just not good enough.

Next: Cowboys must lean on these four players defensively

Dallas could improve in the upcoming games, but as of week two, this is a bad secondary, injuries aside. I suspect a win next week, but that won’t fix a suspect secondary. Pathetic, really is the best word for how this team performed this week.