Broncos at Cowboys third quarter recap

The Denver Broncos got the ball to start the second half against the Dallas Cowboys. Hoping to keep the momentum going, the Broncos offense came out flat having their opening drive end in a three and out with a Micah Parsons sack on Teddy Bridgewater on third down.

Another Tom McMahon special was provided on the next play with a punt block on Sam Martin. Amazingly, a Cowboys player touched the ball past the line of scrimmage and the Broncos recovered to give them a first down.

Javonte Williams went full on beast mode a few plays later in what might be the greatest run by a Broncos running back I’ve seen in years to get Denver out near midfield.

Two plays later, the Broncos were again faced with a third and long - this time eight. Bridgewater went, again, back to the Tim Patrick well who gained seven yards after first contact to power his way through for a first down and into Cowboys territory.

Bridgewater hit Jerry Jeudy in the flat on the next play who had no defenders anywhere near him as he turned up field for a huge gain down to the 18-yard line.

Denver’s drive stalled just inside the 10. Facing a fourth and one, Vic Fangio elected to go with the field goal and the sure points. This changed it from a two score to a three score game.

Broncos 19, Cowboys 0.

The Cowboys immediately miscue on their first third down to bring up a fourth and one at their own 40-yard line. The Denver defense, again, comes up with a massive fourth down stop to force a turnover on downs. Dallas was 0/3 on fourth down in the game up to that point.

Dallas was 1/7 on third down and 0/3 on fourth down in the game up to that point.

Denver wasn’t able to do much with that great field position, gaining just a couple of yards on three plays to bring out a 53-yard field goal attempt from Brandon McManus that he missed to give the Cowboys the ball back right where they left off on the last drive.

Despite that setback, the Broncos defense continued to dominate the Cowboys offense to force a quick three and out with just under four minutes to go in the third quarter.

The Broncos went backwards to start their next drive with a holding penalty. Bridgewater then hit Tim Patrick deep on a pass down the field, but it was knocked loose. Vic Fangio challenged the call that the ball was incomplete. It wasn’t a great challenge, but we expect that from Fangio. The call stood.

On second and 17, Melvin Gordon found a huge hole up the middle for a 14 yard gain. That enabled Bridgewater to find the easy pitch and catch to Jerry Jeudy for the first down conversion to keep the drive going.

The whole team has been fired up all game, which is showing in the production on both sides of the ball as the Broncos picked up another first down into Cowboys’ territory.

Up until this point, Javonte Williams had 94 yards rushing and Melvin Gordon had 78 to end the third quarter.