Dallas Cowboys versus Denver Broncos preview

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The Cowboys visit the 3-0 Broncos on Sunday with the Cowboys being three point road favorites. Denver gets its first real test to see if they are a legitimate playoff contender.

When the Broncos first saw this game against the Cowboys on their schedule there probably were not too many Bronco players that thought they would be 3-0 going into this game…but that is where they are thanks to a miracle finish against Cincinnati and a very stingy defense.

This game against the Cowboys is going to show a lot about how good the Broncos really are. The Cowboys, while they have not played really well this year, are the toughest test to date for the Broncos.

So let’s take a closer look at this game.

On offense the Cowboys have the definite advantage. Although Tony Romo has not played well this year it is reasonable to think the Cowboys have the advantage at the QB position. Kyle Orton actually has a higher QB rating than Romo but that is with Orton playing very conservatively and not taking many chances. How long the Broncos can keep playing this way and winning is hard to say….but at some point Orton will have to actually carry the Broncos offense instead of just managing it. Advantage Romo.

The Cowboys running game has been a bit hit or miss so far this year while the Broncos running game has been strong and seems to be getting better. As of this writing it is still up in the air if Marion Barber is going to play, if he doesn’t that takes a lot away from the Cowboy ground game

The Broncos have had great success running the ball with Buchhalter and Knowshon Moreno carrying the load. It will not be long before Moreno becomes the star of the Bronco backfield. The Broncos offensive line has been opening the holes and the backs have been taking advantage of them. Advantage Denver in the run game.

As far as the receiving game goes this is a bit of a toss up. The Cowboys have quality receivers but so do the Broncos. The Cowboys seem to miss Terrel Owens while the Broncos seem to miss a completely healthy and productive Brandon Marshall. Both receiving corps are capable of the big play and of course the main weapon in the Cowboy passing game is Jason Witten. The Broncos do not have the type of passing game that can take advantage of their receivers, mainly because of Orton, slight advantage to Dallas.

On defense the Broncos have been sensational to date, but not exactly against the top offensive teams. The Bengals are a solid offensive team but the Browns and Raiders are awful. The Broncos defense will get a stiff test on Sunday against the Cowboys.

The Cowboys have had trouble getting turnovers while the Broncos have been terrific at creating turnovers. The Cowboys have also had trouble getting to the QB while Denver has had no trouble at all creating havoc on opposing QB’s.

Denver has the advantage in the LB’ing corps while Dallas has the advantage up front. In the secondary we will give the advantage to the Broncos, although not by much.

On special teams both these teams are solid but not spectacular. Matt Prater has done a great job on kickoffs but been a bit inconsistent on FG’s. We will call this a draw.

So who do we think will win the game? We are going to take the Cowboys by a TD. Why? Because the Cowboys have an offense the Broncos have yet to see and Denver just does not have enough firepower on offense to keep up with the Cowboys. For Denver to win this game their defense is going to have to create turnovers and Orton and the offense are going to have to come up with big plays. We do not think the Denver offense has the firepower to keep up with a pretty good Dallas offense.

Dallas 24 Denver 17