Von Miller and Shaquil Barrett owned the best O-line in football

The Dallas Cowboys are typically mentioned among the best in the league when it comes to O-line play. Von Miller & Shaquil Barrett owned them…

The narrative going into the Denver Broncos’ week two matchup against the Dallas Cowboys was that the duo of Von Miller and Shaquil Barrett off the edge would struggle with the dominant offensive line the Cowboys have.

The narrative has been flipped.

The Cowboys’ offensive line had really no answer for the Denver Broncos’ pass rushers on Sunday, even though in terms of damage control, they didn’t do too bad of a job in comparison to other teams.

With that being said, the numbers don’t lie. Von Miller and Shaquil Barrett owned this Cowboys offensive line:

It’s one thing to say the Broncos — as a team — put a lot of pressure on Dak Prescott. The fact that two players alone had 21 total pressures in this game?

Unreal.

The Cowboys’ offensive line features three All-Pro players in Tyron Smith, Zack Martin, and Travis Frederick. La’El Collins is no slouch at right tackle. The Broncos made those guys look foolish at times in this game, inducing some false start penalties that aren’t counted among these pressures.

In addition to the ridiculous amount of pressure these two players put on, the Broncos as a whole dominated the Cowboys’ offensive line and running back Zeke Elliott in the running game.

Elliott had gone 15 straight games with at least 80 yards rushing. The Broncos’ main focus in this game was to make sure he didn’t reach that number, and they absolutely stifled the Dallas run game.

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Elliott finished this game with nine carries for eight yards, and a 0.9 average per carry.

Yikes.

That’s a major credit to defensive coordinator Joe Woods and head coach Vance Joseph. Joseph said the day after the team’s Monday night win against Los Angeles that the Cowboys’ offense wasn’t difficult to game plan for, but they are difficult to stop.

The execution in stopping the Cowboys’ offense in this game was masterful, and the Broncos put on a clinic really on both sides of the ball.

Controlling the line of scrimmage against the Cowboys’ offensive line is not easy, but the Broncos are a dominant force in their own right. The run defense has vastly improved from last season, and this Denver team looks phenomenal through two weeks of play.