The task, at first, sounds daunting beyond all of Dallas’ capabilities. Need to win on the road. Need to win in Denver. Need to beat Sean Payton.
The Cowboys are just 1-3 away from home this season. The last time they beat the Broncos, here or in Denver, Troy was slipping the ball to Emmitt and throwing slants to Michael (1995). And Sean Payton mostly conjures up awful memories for this club ever since leaving as Bill Parcells’ offensive coordinator to take the Saints job two decades ago.
There was that first meeting in New Orleans in 2006 when Drew Brees, on the way to just his second Pro Bowl (out of 13), threw for 384 yards and five touchdowns in a 42-17 romp against Dallas. More memorable — and more infamous from Dallas’ point of view — was the 2013 game, a similar score of 49-17 in which the Cowboys’ defense set a new standard for not getting off the field. The Saints rolled up 625 yards and an incredible 40 first downs, which remains the opponents’ all-time record against Dallas.
By six.
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But if we dive just a little deeper, reasons the Cowboys can win this game Sunday at Empower Stadium begin to emerge. First of all, even if the image of Payton that most readily comes to mind is of the man holding that giant menu of play calls to hide that thin-lipped smirk, he has had no real authority over Dallas. The Saints were 5-4 in his time there, and that doesn’t include a 2012 New Orleans victory when Payton was taking a one-year sabbatical from the game after a certain bounty investigation.
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While many Cowboys fans lamented the fact that their team was stuck with Mike McCarthy when they wanted Payton, the two resumes are almost the same — one Super Bowl win with an all-time great quarterback and a number of close calls in championship games. In fact, the Cowboys won the only time the two coaches squared off in a Dallas-New Orleans game.
Beyond that, there is the Javonte Williams factor. I don’t think this is a small thing, and I don’t mean just in the literal sense of his carrying the ball for the Cowboys on Sunday. Williams ranks second in the NFL in rushing yards behind the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor, and he’s second in yards after contact and third among the leaders in yards per carry (5.33). This isn’t a case of the Cowboys getting what they were hoping for. It’s a situation where a player far exceeded anyone’s expectations of what he might produce. Otherwise, the team would have signed him for two years instead of one and wouldn’t have bothered with Miles Sanders.
But what goes beyond Williams’ production in evaluating this game is the knowledge of where he came from. This is a player Payton decided he didn’t need in Denver. In fact, after coming back from major knee surgery in 2022, Williams was mostly viewed as a second or third option. Although he played in all 17 Denver games last season, Williams had 139 carries — barely eight per game. He’s averaging right at 16 this year for head coach Brian Schottenheimer, who has been smart to feature him without overusing him.
Payton, much like his mentor Parcells, is known to put injured or rehabbing players on his pay-no-mind list. Williams’ averages the last two years indicate he was not quite the player he had been in 2021, but imbued now with the confidence that Cowboys coaches have placed on him, Williams has delivered in spades.
He’s especially significant for Sunday because this is not a game where Dak Prescott can simply drop back, choose a receiver and make his delivery. As quick as the Cowboys’ quarterback has been at getting rid of the ball this season, the Broncos’ front and their blitzes present the ultimate challenge. Prescott has been sacked just eight times in seven weeks this season. The Broncos have sacked opposing quarterbacks 34 times.
Something’s got to give. And the best way to slow that rush is the same approach that Schottenheimer took to facing Micah Parsons and Green Bay back in Week 4. Run Javonte Williams. Create an effective ground game before going all in on the damage that you hope George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb can do downfield.
Make Williams “the one who got away” storyline for Payton on Sunday afternoon. The Cowboys don’t have to roll up the record-setting numbers that Payton did in a couple of his earliest meetings with Dallas in New Orleans. This is the club’s fourth try to get over the .500 mark this season, and those other opportunities went down as losses in Philadelphia, Chicago and Carolina.
To change that pattern, remind Payton that not all of his personnel decisions are covered in gold. Let him continue to fight a war of words with Russell Wilson (for whatever reason he chooses to do so), and see what Javonte Williams can do against the team that gave him his initial chance in the NFL and then cast him aside.
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