Broncos’ D smothers Elliott
The Cowboys wanted to take one more stab at creating something resembling a spark with their star running back.
So quarterback Dak Prescott handed the ball to Ezekiel Elliott midway through the third quarter with his team trailing the Broncos 28-10. The second-year back, who led the NFL in rushing as a rookie, tried to sprint to his left, seeking the daylight he usually transforms into highlight bursts.
Derek Wolfe wouldn’t let him get there. The Broncos’ defensive end swallowed Elliott 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage. The numbers on Elliott after that play? Five carries for zero yards.
“With Dallas, you stop that run and it’s one of the keys to getting after these guys,” Broncos nose tackle Domata Peko said. “It’s an attitude, man. It’s all of us. It’s a whole defensive effort.”
Elliott rushed for 1,631 yards in 2016, the most by a rookie in more than three decades. He rushed for 104 yards in a season-opening win over the Giants last week. His previous career-low rushing performance was 51 yards, which came in his NFL debut.
Elliott finished with 8 yards on nine carries in the Broncos’ 42-17 victory and was never a factor.
“That’s crazy,” linebacker Brandon Marshall said. “To think of a back that’s featured, considered the best back in the NFL — he runs for over 100 yards on everybody — to not even average over a yard per carry on us, it’s amazing.”
Denver considered the matchup of its rush defense against Elliott and a Cowboys offensive line peppered with all-pro talent “strength against strength,” linebacker Shaquil Barrett said. The Broncos have shouted to anyone who will listen that their defense, 28th against the run last season, had plugged its most glaring weakness from a season ago.
Through two games, the Broncos have surrendered 104 yards rushing. They gave up 130.3 per game last season.
“We’re back,” Marshall said. The Broncos’ offense played perhaps the biggest role in shutting down Elliott. Denver dominated the clock and built an early 21-7 lead, forcing the Cowboys to take their chances against the Broncos’ stingy pass defense. But even early in the game, the Broncos put the clamps on Elliott.
“We wanted to put them in an uncomfortable position,” linebacker Todd Davis said. “We felt like they hadn’t really been challenged in certain ways, and we were going to challenge them in every way.”
Denver stopped Elliott, who was able to play Sunday only because a court ruling at least temporarily delayed an NFL-issued six-game suspension, for no gain on his first rush attempt.
On Dallas’ second drive, facing a third-and-6, Prescott found Elliott with a pass in the flat. Wolfe and safety Darian Stewart arrived just after the ball did and buried the running back for a 1-yard loss.
“We were dominated up front,” Elliott said. “We couldn’t get any movement off the ball. We couldn’t really establish the run game. … (The Broncos) did a good job playing to their strength today.”
Both of the Cowboys’ touchdowns Sunday followed Dallas takeaways in Denver territory. The only score the Cowboys mustered that didn’t follow a turnover was a 56-yard Dan Bailey field goal as time expired in the first half.
With Elliott taken out of the game, the Cowboys had to rely heavily on the arm of Prescott. The second-year quarterback threw for 238 yards and two touchdowns, but he needed 50 attempts to reach those numbers. And his two interceptions equaled half of his total of his rookie season.
All the dropbacks gave Broncos All-Pro Von Miller his fair share of chances to rush the passer, and he sacked Prescott twice in the fourth quarter, snapping a fivegame drought without a sack. It also gave Aqib Talib the chance to intercept Prescott and return it 103 yards for a touchdown with a minute left.
“We have the best secondary in football,” defensive end Adam Gotsis said. “We have the best pass rusher in football. You put the game in their hands and you see what happens.”