Preseason Week 4 Preview – Denver Broncos vs. Arizona Cardinals

vs.
  Broncos vs. Cardinals

Thursday, August 30, 7PM MDT
RE-AIR: Sunday, September 2, 4PM EST, NFL Network

The Denver Broncos will host a common pre-season foe in the Arizona Cardinals tonight, as every team in the National Football League gets set to play in the regular season next week. As this is the last pre-season game of the year, the Broncos starters likely will not play at all, giving the backups one last opportunity to show their worth and make the team.

WHAT TO WATCH

With the starters sitting, the backups will have one last chance to shine. There’s a lot of depth on the team this year, so it will be hard to watch certain players go. The Broncos have already seen contributors and starters from last year get cut as the team finds a way to get under the 53-man roster cap. Kenard Lang was a serviceable starter for us last year, and now that defensive end is gone. P Paul Ernster leaves despite having a better pre-season than Todd Sauerbrun. With 22 more cuts remaining, players will be playing for their careers tonight.

Interesting battles to watch – quarterback (Parsons vs. Hackney), running back (Young vs. Hall, if healthy), tight end (will Nate Jackson make himself totally un-cuttable?), defensive tackle, linebacker. The Broncos must get to 53 by Saturday at 4:00 PM, so the pressure is on these bubble players to make a big enough impact to stay on the team.

Of course, watch if our backup defenders (particularly the defensive line and safeties) can take another step up this game. There is a lot of youth across these positions as backups, so you may be watching future Broncos starters as the game winds down.

Again, don’t watch the score.

This is the last game action the Broncos will see until Week 1 of the regular season against the Bills. So enjoy while it you can.