Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Crushed in Denver
Siemian’s four touchdown passes lead Broncos’ rout of Cowboys.
BRONCOS 42, COWBOYS 17
DENVER — Aqib Talib’s 103-yard interception return for a touchdown with 53 seconds left did nothing more than add an exclamation mark to the Denver Broncos’ 42-17 blowout of Dallas on Sunday.
Talib has now returned 10 interceptions for touchdowns during his lengthy career, two short of Darren Woodson’s alltime NFL record.
“It’s just mind-boggling,” Talib said.
Sort of like Denver’s defensive dominance of Dallas during a game extended by a 62-minute first-half lightning delay that did nothing to slow Denver’s rolling offense.
Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott had the least productive game of his career with nine carries for 8 yards, Dallas managed 40 yards rushing and 1 first down on the ground.
Cowboys (1-1) went 3 for 14 on third downs and failed three times on fourth down, looking nothing like the team that dominated the Giants in their opener.
“I want to emphasize today, this is not what we’re about in my view,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. “I feel strongly
about that. On the other hand, this is what Denver is about.”
Denver is 2-0 for the fifth consecutive season, but the Broncos had one thing to worry about, an injury to their top draft pick, left tackle Garett Bolles, who left the stadium on crutches and with a boot on his left foot after getting hurt in the third quarter.
Denver led 35-17 late in the fourth quarter when Talib stepped in front of Dez Bryant, who had earlier beaten him for a TD, snared Dak Prescott’s fourth-down pass and raced up the Dallas sideline.
He slipped Cole Beasley’s tackle and followed linebacker Brandon Marshall, who wiped out Prescott, into the south end zone, where he jumped into the stands.
Talib said he was exhausted, but he was enjoying every last bit of what he called “an all-around complete ballgame from the Broncos.”
Trevor Siemian tied a career high with four touchdown passes t
“We knew they were sound in the secondary,” Jones said. “We were a little taken aback by how well they did offensively. “They seemed to really have our number. There’s no excuses here. Their quarterback played outstanding.”
Elliott, who’s playing while his appeal of a six-game suspension for domestic violence works its way through the courts, came into the game averaging 108 yards rushing per game and more than 5 yards a carry in his career.
“We just were getting dominated up front,” said Elliott, whose previous worst game was a 51-yarder in his NFL debut against the Giants last year. “We couldn’t get any movement off the ball.”
On the other side, C.J. Anderson rushed for 118 yards and a score and also caught a TD pass.
The Cowboys have lost to the Broncos six consecutive times.
Siemian threw touchdown passes of 10 and 6 yards to Emmanuel Sanders as the Broncos built a 21-10 halftime lead, but the Cowboys were not really in the game.
Denver outgained Dallas 246-97, managed 5 first downs and converted once on third down.
Dallas’ touchdown came on a 3-yard drive after DeMarcus Lawrence’s strip sack of Siemian after beating right tackle Menelik Watson. Bryant beat Talib for the score two plays after Maliek Collins scooped up the loose ball at the Denver 3.
The game was delayed by lightning for 62 minutes in the first quarter. The Cowboys were at midfield with 33 seconds left in the first quarter when the teams were told to head to their locker rooms and fans retreated to the concourses.
Broncos coach Vance Joseph said they turned off the air conditioning and turned on the TVs to watch some football during the delay.
Miller joked that they spent it dancing and playing games.
“Connect Four, we had some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” Miller said. “We had a couple of rock-paper-scissors in there, turned on the music for a dance contest. … Just came in, danced around.”
Actually, Miller didn’t even do any of his usual dances after his two sacks, but he did raise his arms after ending his career-high five-game sackless streak, which came after he’d been flagged twice for jumping offside.
“You think he was getting antsy?” Joseph said.