In 41 years of announcing NFL games (along with 39 seasons with the NBA), Kevin Harlan has seen and called it all.
So with Denver up next for the Cowboys, I figured it was appropriate to get his response to calling the Broncos’ 33-point fourth quarter that produced a crazy 33-32 win over the New York Giants Sunday.
When did he think Denver’s comeback was legit?
“I really never thought of a Denver comeback,” Harlan said. “The Broncos offensively up to that point had been very mediocre and had lacked any kind of sizzle. But it’s so funny in this league how one play can ignite something big. And that’s what happened — the (Justin) Strnad interception. (Bo) Nix began to play loose and free and off schedule. You could feel their confidence turning a corner. And then they played a very hard to defend offensive style of football.”
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Hard to defend with a three-man rush, Giants fans would say. Something Matt Eberflus isn’t likely to employ in times of duress. The interception by Strnad, a Broncos linebacker, came with New York leading 26-16 and just under five minutes to play. Who knew Denver would have time to score 17 more points and win the game? This is what the Cowboys have to deal with in their next game, although having played the Giants and experienced a 41-point fourth quarter (20 for Dallas, 21 for the Giants), the Cowboys at least have an idea that explosions do happen when you play New York.
Any kind of offense was a challenge for the first six weeks. Did the club really turn a corner with its defensive performance in Sunday’s 44-22 win over Washington? Would it have been drastically different if Deebo Samuel and Terry McLaurin suited up for the visitors? Maybe, but no one has any sympathy for the Commanders. The Cowboys spent four weeks without CeeDee Lamb and their offensive line has played enough musical chairs that nine players have started games this season. That stuff happens.
Getting a touchdown off a DaRon Bland interception, getting a fumble recovery from new Cowboy Jadeveon Clowney, getting seven hits on a pair of Washington quarterbacks and limiting the opponent to two touchdowns until the game was well out of reach in the fourth quarter has to mean something.
But Nix is going to be a different kind of challenge. You can only imagine the kind of confidence this team is gaining, not just by staging such a remarkable comeback. That team had to play really poorly for a long stretch to enter the fourth quarter down 19-0, so the boost really comes from having survived a terrible afternoon with a few late moments of greatness. Denver scored four touchdowns, made a pair of two-point conversions and finished it with Will Lutz’s 39-yard field goal. All in 15 minutes.
How does that happen? Nix went 16-for-24 for 174 yards in the fourth quarter. He passed for two touchdowns, but he also ran for 46 yards and two touchdowns. The Cowboys did an excellent job of containing Jaylen Daniels on Sunday and only let his replacement, Marcus Mariota, get loose on a 25-yard run long after the game was settled. Then again the Giants probably thought much of what they were allowing Nix to do Sunday came long after the game was settled.
Nix used seven different receivers to catch those 16 fourth quarter passes. While the Cowboys would like to get Bland lined up against former SMU Mustang Courtland Sutton, he actually had only one catch in the quarter although it was a huge one — the 22-yarder with the clock winding down to set up the winning field goal. Marvin Mims, an OU product from Frisco Lone Star, caught four passes for 72 yards and tight end Evan Engram caught four for 41, an indication that there will be plenty of work for the entire secondary, not to mention the Dallas pass rush Sunday in Denver.
How do the Cowboys avoid suffering the same fate?
One way is to score 17 points in the first quarter as they did against Washington. A big early lead can do plenty to eliminate any momentum shifts in a game. But I think Dallas’ offense is more equipped to handle a situation where an opponent is trying to pull off a frenzied comeback. Rookie Jaxson Dart threw the interception that changed the momentum. The Giants had a three-and-out on the possession after that to allow the Broncos to keep scoring as the clock ticked away.
Like Daniels, Nix is a second-year quarterback who shined as a rookie, but Nix has continued to grow in Year 2. As Harlan pointed out, a guy who played 60-plus college games has been on that big stage for a long time, and with a demanding head coach (Sean Payton) he has the ability to wear that pressure and use it as fuel.
The Cowboys’ defense has just survived the stage for the first time this season. Can it make another grand entrance and exit? An offense that averages 31.7 points per game will have to do its part where the Giants’ rookie-led offense failed Sunday.
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