So far the Broncos have had the benefit of quarterbacks making mistakes against their defense, either because of a lack of experience or because the Broncos rattled them and forced the mistake.
JaMarcus Russell floundered, Brady Quinn got benched after the Broncos frazzled him.
Then the Cowboys’ Tony Romo was supposed to be the first test of a Pro Bowl player against the unit. Not so much.
First Dallas offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, who did not get the Broncos job when Josh McDaniels did, decided the league’s No. 1 rushing team should run the ball only seven times in the second half — just four times on first down — despite the fact the Cowboys had the lead for most of that half.
Also Romo, in the last two plays the Cowboys ran from scrimmage, decided it would be wise to challenge Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey on back-to-back plays from the Broncos’ 2-yard line with the game on the line.
Bailey swatted away both passes, intended for Sam Hurd, while Garrett had also elected to keep the Cowboys’ best receiver — tight end Jason Witten — in to block on the plays.
This Sunday the Broncos won’t get that kind of approach. Not with Tom Brady at quarterback and Bill Belichick as the team’s head coach. If they force Brady to make a mistake, it will most likely be because they executed the defense as planned better than the Patriots did, not because Brady got rattled and didn’t see the field.
Asked this week if he thought it was smart to go after Bailey these days, Brady said, “I don’t think it’s smart at all.”
“I don’t think I’m going to go into Sunday’s game thinking ‘let’s see how many times I can throw at Champ.
“I’ve been watching the last couple plays of the Dallas game, he’s an elite corner in the league, he plays with a lot of confidence, his team really depends on him to make those plays.”
Jeff Legwold: 303-954-2359 or jlegwold@denverpost.com
