IRVING, Texas- After a week in a scorching Texas summer, the Broncos officially melted Saturday night.

A tired, sometimes sloppy team stumbled through their second preseason outing, losing 31-20 to the Dallas Cowboys in Texas Stadium.

"You don't want to make excuses, but we had a long week down here,'' said quarterback Jay Cutler. "We performed well in the practices against Dallas ? it's a disappointment to come out and play like that, but it's preseason, we'll learn and move on.''

Broncos coach Mike Shanahan gave his starters a little more time than expected to try and get things sorted out, but it was not to be no matter how many plays they stayed on the field. None of it a bigger indicator than when the Cowboys pounded out 97 yards rushing against the defensive starters in a half of work on the way to 190 yards rushing overall for the night.

It was the second time in six days that an opposing offense had rolled in the running game as the 49ers had rushed for 144 yards overall against Denver in the preseason debut Monday night.

"We're not there yet, we've got a long way to go,'' Shanahan said. "We went with the defensive starters a little longer in the first half because I thought we needed that cohesiveness. Hopefully it will come pretty quickly.''

While there was little defensive game planning involved, several Broncos had said this past week they believed Dallas would be a quality test against the defense because of the Cowboys' huge offensive line and power-first approach.

Dallas scored touchdowns on two of their first three possessions, rushing for 46 on 11 carries in the two scoring drives. By the end of the first quarter the Cowboys had 51 yards rushing and their halftime total included two touchdown runs by Marion Barber and one by Julius Jones.

The Broncos also struggled with defensive substitutions at times, having to use to use a timeout early in the second quarter when they didn't have the personnel they wanted in the game. They also tried to call a timeout late in the first half when they didn't have any remaining as linebacker Ian Gold tried to get off the field.

And a battered defensive line, with rookie Tim Crowder out with a injured ankle and rookie Jarvis Moss already playing on a sore knee, lost another player when defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban left the game in the first quarter with a torn right Achilles tendon and he will miss the season.

"It's really a shame to lose Ebenezer for the year,'' Shanahan said. "A great leader in our defensive line ? it's really shame he had to go down in a preseason game.''

After Ekuban left the game Moss played at his right defensive end spot. The Broncos were already playing without defensive tackle Gerard Warren, who was left off the trip when a trade the Broncos thought they had completed had fallen through, and defensive tackle Alvin McKinley, who did not make the trip this week after staying in Denver because his wife was expecting.

By halftime the Cowboys had built a 24-6 lead and cruised the rest of the way.

For the night the starting offense didn't fare much better than their defensive counterparts, mustering just two field goals in their six possessions of work. Even the basics didn't come together as quarterback Jay Cutler and running back Travis Henry didn't connect on a handoff late in the first quarter and the Cowboys recovered the loose ball at the Broncos' 10-yard line.

Dallas scored two plays later to give the Cowboys a 14-0 lead with 2 minutes, 28 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Overall Cutler finished his night 7-of-13 for 58 yards and was sacked once in the face of heavy pressure from the Cowboys, who seeing the Broncos injury troubles in the offensive front, sent a variety of blitzes at the quarterback. His longest completion went for 21 yards ? to tight end Daniel Graham.

"They brought a lot of blitzes?probably every blitz they've got in the playbook,'' Cutler said. "First, second and third down.''

Travis Henry finished with just 25 yards rushing on his 10 carries against the Cowboys' 3-4 defense and the Broncos finished with 35 yards rushing overall.

"Dallas came out and put a lot of pressure on us early, a lot more blitzes than we saw during the week,'' Shanahan said. " ? They really stopped the running game.''

Henry left the game in the second quarter with what the team believed was a first-degree sprain ? the mildest classification ? of the medial collateral ligament (MCL) in his left knee after he was twisted awkwardly in a pile after a 1-yard run from the Dallas 3-yard line.

Henry will have a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exam on the knee Sunday morning and Shanahan said if the test confirmed it was a first-degree sprain, Henry could be available for Saturday's game against the Cleveland Browns.

The Broncos, with four injured offensive tackles as well, were thin enough at the position at Chad Mustard, who was moved from tight end to tackle between practices on Wednesday, played right tackle with the second-team offense in the second half.

The offensive highlight of the evening came when backup quarterback Patrick Ramsey and wide receiver Brian Clark hooked up for a 90-yard catch-and-run touchdown with 1:05 remaining in the third quarter.

The touchdown cut the Cowboys lead to 24-13.

Safety Curome Cox, who is playing quite a bit in the one of the Broncos situational looks in passing situations, left the game with a right shoulder injury, while running back Mike Bell left the game with a left hip injury.

They will also be evaluated Sunday.

Etc ? :

The Broncos continued to make the rounds about potential deals for defensive tackle Warren and those discussions have recently included the Oakland Raiders, which may be an indication of just how much effort the Broncos are making to try to move the veteran defensive tackle. Washington has been one of the most interested teams as well and Indianapolis is expected to try to sign Warren if the Broncos release him. Shanahan reaffirmed after the game he believed it was still possible for Warren to return to the practice field Monday. He said Friday a lot would depend on the team's injury situation and how the other defensive linemen played Saturday night after the coaches had reviewed the game video ? Former Broncos running back, and Ring of Fame member, Floyd Little is among the finalists being considered by the Pro Football Hall of Fame's seniors committee. Two seniors candidates will be selected from a group of 15 seniors finalists to then be considered for enshrinement in the class of 2008.

legwoldj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2359.

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