Rocky Mountain Stampede

Today's epic will go down as one of my all-time favorite regular season Broncos victories of all-time. 

Since 2002, Denver had flirted with hot starts early in the season, only to fade down the stretch and struggle to hang on with 9-10 wins.  I felt the Broncos were fighting for legitimacy on Thanksgiving night in Big D.  Yes, the media has been infatuated with the Broncos of late, but there were still some skeptics about Jake Plummer's hot streak and Denver's ability to win a tough game on the road.  Since Denver rarely wins in Arrowhead, a loss would have put the Broncos' first place standing in serious jeopardy. 

Today, Dallas showed they are a legitimate NFC Super Bowl contender.  Up until Ron Dayne's 55 yard run to seal the game in overtime, the Cowboys had held the Broncos to a total of 89 rushing yards on 19 attempts.  It's remarkable the Broncos were able to take this game to overtime with only 19 rushing carries in regulation.  For much of the game, the Dallas defense demonstrated why they were one of the best defensive units.  They showed tremendous discipline in limiting the cutback lanes for both Mike Anderson and Ron Dayne.  

The Cowboys' defense completely took away Denver's vertical game and forced Jake Plummer (15-24 162 yds 1TD 1 INT) to dink and dunk.  Plummer looked uncomfortable in the pocket all game long when Dallas put him into 3rd and long situations.  They were also the lucky team to put an end to one of the most unexpected interception streaks in NFL history and Plummer was very fortunate that Terence Newman didn't pick off one of his errant throws that most likely would have sealed the game. 

Dallas beat Denver at their own game.  They dominated the time of possesion 35:42 to 24:18.  However, the Cowboys weren't very efficient with the added time.  The Dallas offense ran 77 plays, 31 more than the Broncos.  They were only able to muster 314 total yards of offense with their abundance of opportunties, averaging 4.1 yards per play.

The Cowboys stayed committed to the run in Bill Parcells' fashion with 32 carries, but both Julius Jones and Marion Barber had trouble finding daylight, gaining only 85 yards as team.  Drew Bledsoe had success throwing to Jason Witten, but Denver's fine cornerbacks did a solid job of containing the Cowboys' wideouts on the outside.  The Broncos' defense pretty much made Dallas a one-dimensional passing team.  Drew Bledsoe threw the ball 44 times and got picked off twice, which is never a good sign.  Despite the offensive struggles, Dallas had plenty of opportunities to win this game in the 4th quarter.  They were only a Billy Cundiff chip shot away from taking it. 

I wanted to compliment a few of the Broncos on their individual performances:

-Champ Bailey is as much of a gamer as anybody on this Broncos team.  He has played with a separated shoulder and a badly pulled hamstring all season long.  Champ loves the contact side of the game and he loves to get down and dirty.  He's one of the league's best run tackling cornerbacks.  Twice this season, he has made a difference making TD interception return to help the Broncos to victory. 

-Choo-Choo!  I'm on the Dayne Trayne!  Ron Dayne helped Denver to victory with his running to defeat San Diego in week 2.  Since then, Dayne has been deactivated many times and has been a good sport about it.  It was nice to see him step back into the limelight again after all the negative things that have been said about him since he won the Heisman Trophy in 1999.

-John Lynch for calling tails!

-Al Wilson for being old school and playing on a bad knee when he had every excuse to leave the game.

-D.J. Williams for showing glimpses again of his stellar rookie season when he led the team in tackles and finished 3rd in the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year voting.

-Mike Shanahan for his playcalling this season.  I loved his decision to play it safe when Denver had a chance to win the game on their last possession during the 4th quarter.  Dallas did a superb job against Plummer in obvious passing situations and you can't fault Shanahan for not risking a potential diasterous turnover at that point in the game.  Shanahan had enough confidence in the defense and knew Denver had a better chance to win the game in overtime with a full arsenal of his playbook.  The gamble paid off. 

Overall, it wasn't Denver's best performance, but it was the "best win of the season" based on the quality of competition, the venue and the circumstances of the short week.   I love the fact Denver is going to get almost ten days to prepare for the rival Chiefs who have the Broncos' number at Arrowhead, especially in December. 

|  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this