The Denver Broncos scored 33 points in a single quarter to beat the New York Giants, 33-32, but they still have an offense problem. That statement doesn’t make a whole lot of sense logically, but it resonates completely when you watch the Broncos week in and week out and see the issues with consistency. 

The Dallas Cowboys represent yet another opportunity to solve this problem. Their offense is dangerous, but their defense has been hide-your-eyes bad at times. 

So what can the Broncos capitalize on here? Simple. For Dallas, the  defensive issues have been about communication and staying connected, and linebacker Kenneth Murray spoke about this during the week in an article written by Jon Machota of The Athletic. 

“I feel like that’s what you saw out there, a connected group,” linebacker Kenneth Murray said Monday, a day after the Cowboy's 44-22 win over the Washington Commanders at AT&T Stadium.

“And in the moments when we didn’t have the success that we wanted, it was an unconnected group,” Murray said. “It’s just about us being consistently connected for however long it takes.”

The Cowboys held a players-only meeting before the Washington game to address this issue, and while it worked to some extent, the Commanders offense was also weakened considerably by the absence of receivers Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel, not to mention the early exit of quarterback Jayden Daniels due to a hamstring injury. Team meetings are usually a sign that a team is in deep trouble, and that’s especially true with meddling Cowboys owner Jerry Jones constantly hovering in the background and delivering impromptu critiques. 

“To some degree, we didn’t have no way to go but up on defense,” Jones said. “But I didn’t expect this kind of performance from our defense. So, kudos to (defensive coordinator  Matt Eberflus) and certainly Brian Schottenheimer. He had a lot of fingerprints on this. … He’s the head coach, obviously he calls the (offensive) plays, and there he is spending a lot of (last) week working with the defensive coordinator. That’s a coach. That is a coach right there.”

There are several ways the Broncos can take advantage of the communication issue. Mile High is considered one of the toughest stadiums in the league when it comes to communication for the visiting team, and Denver’s offense has been proficient when the Broncos play fast. 

The flip side is that the Broncos don’t want to get into a track meet game in this one. That would be playing into the Cowboys’ strength, which is putting points up in a hurry. If the Broncos get a solid effort from their jerry-rigged offensive line, though, Denver has more than enough of a ground game to control clock, and Sean Payton can alternate these two strategic approaches and play situational football. 

This is a classic case of an opponent whose weaknesses play into Denver’s strengths, but the one thing the Broncos can’t do is go into snooze mode and start posting a series of three-and-outs. Bo Nix isn’t going to be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat every week, and the Broncos need to be consistent and solid enough to make this an easy win.