The head man smelled blood.<\/p>\n
Dallas came to Empower Field on Sunday afternoon wielding some of the best weapons in the game, but riddled with holes from weapons they couldn\u2019t stop.<\/p>\n
This would be an old-fashioned mountain shootout between the Broncos and the Cowboys, the latter a franchise ranked dead-last in the NFL in total defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted,\u201d Sean Payton reflected later Sunday, \u201cto keep them last.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nBroncos analysis: RJ Harvey, rookie class shine in blowout win over Dallas. \u2018Maybe they read someone\u2019s article.\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
On Saturday night, in the kind of film-review meeting that normally glazes eyes, Payton introduced a semi-surprise. Joe Harrington, the Broncos’ director of football video, stitched together tape of 11 plays they’d repped throughout the week that Payton felt could go for touchdowns. And Harrington, at Payton’s behest, overlayed the college fight song of the scoring recipient on each play.<\/p>\n
Payton went around throughout the week asking players the names of those fight songs. Tight end Adam Trautman was accompanied by Dayton’s “We know we’ll make your team feel blue!”<\/a> Rookie Pat Bryant heard Illinois’ famed “Oskee Wow-Wow.”<\/a> Second-year Oregon product Troy Franklin got the Ducks’ “Go! Ducks! Go.<\/a>” Players heard that song about five times, tight end Evan Engram cracked, a dead giveaway Franklin was due for a big game.<\/p>\n
Bryant’s eyes lit up when discussing the meeting. Franklin smiled that all the flair was “pretty funny.” Veteran receiver Trent Sherfield, who has played for six NFL franchises and seven head coaches, put it best.<\/p>\n
“It’s Sean, bro,” the 29-year-old told The Denver Post. “Like, he has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.”<\/p>\n
Payton whipped them all out a day later, throwing every grain of magic dust he had at the Cowboys in a 44-24 win that steadied concerns about the Broncos’ offensive inconsistency.<\/p>\n
\nRenck: With this version of Bo Nix, the extraordinary seems possible for Broncos<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
After Bo Nix attacked the sidelines and middle of the field in a four-touchdown performance, and J.K. Dobbins stayed in rhythm in a 15-carry, 111-yard performance, Payton made one thing clear postgame: He didn’t think Dallas’ defense could keep up.<\/p>\n
Thus, the head coach recounted, he started to goad on his defense through four smashmouth quarters: Can you guys keep up with us?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s our head football coach,” Engram said postgame after he was asked if he felt urgency from Payton throughout the week. “I think after the three quarters we had last week, you\u2019re gon\u2019 feel some pressure.”<\/p>\n
This was Payton at his best, a roaring flame for four quarters after weeks of flickers. This is the essence of a head coach who’s long operated with a distinct swagger, as former New Orleans players describe, and the teachings of mentor Bill Parcells. There are multitudes of ways to win a game, Parcells taught him. In Dallas, Parcells often tried to cut plays from his ambitious coordinator’s play-sheet — only to turn around before one anticipated shootout against the Chiefs and tell Payton to throw the kitchen sink<\/a> at Kansas City.<\/p>\n
Twenty years later, this was a kitchen-sink game. Payton knew it. His players sensed it. The fight-song tape, on Saturday night, was evidence.<\/p>\n
“We ran just about all the ones we went over,” Bryant said. “So I mean, just going out there and just seeing the execution \u2013 man, just knowing we did what we needed to do to catch that dub was special.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Broncos have been stop-and-go offensively because of Payton’s inconsistent commitment to the run game and an emphasis on short dunks early in games. They have also been stop-and-go offensively because of a lack of execution in various phases — blocking, penalties and organization.<\/p>\n
There was less of that on Sunday. There were still a handful of ineligible-man-downfield and offensive-pass-interference whistles. But they weren’t drive-killers. There was no visible confusion, and no offensive timeouts to review a play. This was a machine that’s now racked up 77 points and 721 total yards of offense in its last five quarters.<\/p>\n
“Everybody got to really see the offense that we can be,” Sherfield said. “And I think we all experienced it as well, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Denver’s skill players noticed a “difference of play-calling” for Payton, Franklin said Sunday.<\/p>\n
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