The Dallas Cowboys once again, improbably, have the chance to get above .500, a minor miracle for a litany of different reasons. To do so, they’ll have to tame the Denver Broncos in Week 8 and, while history is filled with Wild West stories of Cowboys breaking Broncos, we should still go over some keys to victory that Dallas will need to follow if they don’t want to get bucked. 

Remember in the lead up to the Carolina Panthers game in Week 6 when we talked about how one of the keys to victory would be Dallas putting the Panthers away early due to Carolina’s +31 differential in the fourth quarter? Remember how Dallas got outscored by 7 in the fourth quarter that week and lost on a last second field goal?

Yeah, let’s not do that again. That will be an equally tall task in Week 8 though as the Broncos have a +42 point differential in the fourth quarter, an almost identical amount through seven games as the Panthers had through five. 

Even if the Cowboys were to build up an early lead, the Broncos showed in their wins over the New York Giants (down 26-8 with 10:14 left) and Philadelphia Eagles (down 17-3 entering the fourth) that no lead is truly safe. 

This game is shaping up to be a true slug fest, the type that Dallas has shown capable of winning as shown by their Week 2 victory over the New York Giants. But, even in that game, they started slowly and surrendered a 13-3 lead in the second quarter. Staying locked in for all four quarters this week will be key to Dallas holding on to a victory. 

Hear me out on this one. I know that PS2 is the reigning defensive player of the year and that he has a well-earned reputation as a lockdown corner. 

But he’s not the same player this year and is actually following a pattern he’s established in his career in which he’s elite in even-numbered years, but just fine in odd-numbered years.

That’s not to say that he hasn’t been a good corner this season. Quite the contrary, he’s been perfectly fine, which is a fantastic floor for any player in the NFL. But, he’s not playing like the true shut down corner he was last season. 

With CeeDee Lamb back and better than ever, as well George Pickens playing like a true 1B instead of a number two wide out, this could be a rare opportunity for a team to truly test Surtain II with either Lamb or Pickens. And, even if he passes that test, Dallas will still have the matchup advantage on the other side of the field. 

But if Surtain II falters, then Dallas will truly have the advantage across the whole secondary, opening up not only the passing game but emptying boxes for Javonte Williams and company as well. They won’t know whether or not that’s the case though until they have either Pickens or Lamb hand Surtain II a scantron. 

When he’s not playing the Cowboys, I absolutely love watching Bo Nix on the field. He has a certain “wooden puppet that had his wish to be real boy granted but only until midnight” quality to his game that is imminently entertaining. 

Part of that, though, is that he’s prone to make some crazy decisions while under pressure, as evidenced by his 39.6 passing grade in such scenarios, good for No. 44 in the league. That grade jumps to 76.7 when facing a clean pocket, good for a 20-spot jump in the ranking to No. 24.

Leading up to Week 7, we highlighted the discrepancy that Jayden Daniels exhibited in such scenarios as well (a 28-spot difference, the biggest in the league) and implored Dallas to continue building on their back-to-back 73+ pass rushing grades they had earned in the lead up to that game. 

While they didn’t quite do that (they had a 62.7 pass rushing grade in Week 7), they did record four sacks, including a strip sack by Shemar James that led to a turnover. While the contrast in performance between clean and pressured pockets isn’t as stark with Nix as they were with Daniels, there’s still quite a large difference, making the continuation of the pass rush’s improvement key to victory.