IRVING, Texas — Call it foreshadowing, in hindsight.

On a Dallas radio station on Thursday, new Denver Broncos defensive boss Jim Bates did an interview during a break between practices in which he expressed his concerns about how his players had adapted to his new scheme through nearly three weeks of training camp.

"I'm still a little leery," he said at the time. "We're not even where we were in Green Bay with lesser talent at this stage of the game, 24 days before our first game. I'm still concerned at getting all the pieces to fit, the system to work and everybody to buy in. I still have concerns defensively."

Bates' level of trepidation has likely hit new highs after watching the Broncos first unit miss tackles, blow assignments and even attempt to take a timeout that didn't exist in the first half Saturday night against the Cowboys. And outside of a few pass rushes by rookie Jarvis Moss, the pass rush didn't get to Dallas quarterback Tony Romo, either, compounding the problems.

Denver, which wasn't specifically scheming for Dallas in the second preseason game, expected it to be a mano-a-mano type affair against a physical Cowboys front after the San Francisco 49ers gouged the defense for 144 rushing yards in the exhibition opener six days earlier.

The Broncos lost the majority of those individual battles.

"We laid an egg," Broncos safety John Lynch said.

Dallas converted 15 first downs in the opening half, put together drives of 60 and 69 yards, converted 6-of-8 third downs and scored on each of its red-zone trips on three short rushing touchdowns in grabbing a 24-6 advantage against the Broncos starters.

It would have been worse if not for two takeaways, on Dre' Bly's interception deep in Cowboys territory and safety Nick Ferguson's fumble recovery.

The most troubling aspect is probably the way Denver defended the run.

Marion Barber (11 carries for 57 yards) and Julius Jones (9-31) consistently found traffic in the middle but bounced outside for gains. Denver's linebackers either pinched too far inside or didn't wrap up, leaving their cornerbacks and safeties to clean up.

"The effort was there but obviously we missed a lot of tackles," Denver cornerback Champ Bailey said.

Dallas, which played its offensive starters until halftime, finished with 368 total yards, including 190 yards on 42 rushing attempts.

The trouble began on Dallas' opening drive, which ended with a missed field goal. Nickel cornerback Domonique Foxworth slipped and fell, allowing Patrick Crayton to rumble 30 yards on a catch-and-run..

A 15-yard punt by Todd Sauerbrun gave the Cowboys field position at their own 40 to start their second drive. And Dallas converted two third downs on its way to the first of two Marion Barber scoring runs. The Broncos brought out their pass-rush front on third-and-5 and Barber used their aggressiveness to get to the passer against the Broncos' front by racing past end Elvis Dumervil.over right tackle. Moss at defensive end then was a half-second late as Romo (11 of 18, 122 yards) uncorked a 20-yard completion to Sam Hurd on third-and-9.

"We pride ourselves on getting off on third down," Bailey said. "But we haven't made someone punt yet. We have to clean that up."

Travis Henry's fumble set up Dallas at the Broncos 7, so it's difficult to fault Denver much when it took two Jones runs to punch it in for a 14-0 edge. But the ease with which the Cowboys scored had to be disconcerting. On the 4-yard scoring run, Dallas blocked down on defensive end John Engelberger and Nate Webster, starting at strong-side linebacker after D.D. Lewis got the call the previous week, filled an inside gap. But no one was there as Jones crashed over the right side.

Two series later, more blown coverages.

Dallas tight end Tony Curtis was left uncovered for an 11-yard completion, a play on which Denver defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban tore his right Achilles, an injury that will end his season. Moments later, on another third down, Bailey picked up the slot receiver over the middle and Crayton crossed the other direction but didn't draw a defender.. His 28-yard gain moved Dallas into Denver territory.

"These things that are happening in the games, they've happened in practice. And we've got to start cleaning it up," Lynch said. "The urgency's got to speed up here."

Bly was then called for pass interference when he tugged on Austin's jersey with his right arm on an in-cut in the red zone. Barber shook an ankle tackle in the backfield and ran through Webster for a 5-yard TD on the next play for a 21-3 Cowboys edge.

But Dallas wasn't done. On a third-and-8 at midfield, Denver had difficulty getting the proper personnel grouping on the field. Linebacker Ian Gold attempted to sprint off the field, but the ball was quickly snapped and Moss was called for an offsides penalty.

"That's a little frustrating," Bailey said. "Because we shouldn't be wasting timeouts on defense ever. We need to get that taken care of."

Barber powered for six more yards on third-and-3 on the next snap. But the defense finally held on third-and-8, with Nick Folk striking a 52-yard field goal to end the first half scoring.

"You don't want to panic," Lynch said. "You know from experience that we play all these games to build to the opener. Although we didn't take a positive step tonight, I thought we did this week. We got some great work against the Cowboys. There's going ot be no panic. We're going to be a good football team. We've got to go make it happen."

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