Timing Is Right and Broncos Beat Up on Dallas : Denver Catches Cowboys Without All Their Horses and Rolls to 29-14 Victory

Coach Dan Reeves had a feeling it was a good time to play the Dallas Cowboys, and his Denver Broncos proved he was right.

Gerald Willhite scored three touchdowns Sunday, and the unbeaten Broncos rolled to a 29-14 victory over the banged-up Cowboys before a record crowd of 76,982 fans at Mile High Stadium.

“I thought going in that with the injuries they had, we had an excellent chance to win the ball game,” said Reeves, a former player and assistant coach under Dallas Coach Tom Landry. “I felt we were healthy and we were at home, and I expected to win.

“I would have been disappointed if we hadn’t. Sometimes you have to be fortunate to catch people at the right time.”

It was Reeves’ first victory over Landry.

Willhite, who leaves most of the running chores to teammate Sammy Winder, scored three times in the second period--an onslaught touched off by an interception near the goal line by Denver cornerback Louis Wright.

Steve Pelluer, playing because quarterback Danny White is out with a hip injury, threw that interception and two others, and was sacked five times, once for a safety, by the Broncos (5-0).

The Cowboys (3-2) were also without injured running back Tony Dorsett, and lost defensive tackle Randy White with a pulled hamstring and defensive back Victor Scott with a fractured wrist during the game.

“You saw us just about at our worst,” Landry said, refusing to use the injuries as an excuse. “We couldn’t do anything offensively.

“We just played dull. Denver’s an excellent team, but we just didn’t play very well. There was no intensity out there.”

Pelluer drove the Cowboys to the Denver four-yard line early in the second quarter, but his third-down pass was intercepted at the two by Wright, who returned it 56 yards to the Dallas 43. Eight plays later, John Elway flipped a nine-yard scoring pass to Willhite.

Just 58 seconds later, defensive tackle Rulon Jones made it 9-0 when he sacked Pelluer for a safety. Jones’ safety was the third of his NFL career, one short of the record.

Following the Cowboys’ free kick, Denver needed just five plays to go 58 yards for another score, Willhite diving over from the one-yard line.

Willhite’s third touchdown came with 40 seconds left in the half on a 15-yard pass from Elway, after an 80-yard march that made it 22-0 at halftime.

Elway, who completed 12 of 24 passes for 200 yards, threw his third touchdown pass to Gene Lang from 12 yards out in the fourth quarter.

Dallas’ touchdowns came on a three-yard run in the third period by Herschel Walker and a four-yard pass from Pelluer to fullback Timmy Newsome.

Denver held Walker to 33 yards in 15 carries.

The Cowboys came into the game as the NFL’s top scoring team with 128 points but failed to set an NFL record by scoring 30 points or more in five straight games.