Denver Broncos preseason finale: Chad Kelly gets his chance

Chad Kelly gets his first start as a pro against the Arizona Cardinals in the preseason finale. He has a great chance to secure his place as backup QB.

Thursday evening, the Denver Broncos face the Arizona Cardinals in the preseason finale with Chad Kelly starting at quarterback.

This is immediately Kelly’s greatest moment as a professional signal-caller. He has tremendously impressed in the preseason thus far.

Kelly has completed 28-of-41 passes (68.4 percent) for 340 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception in the preseason.

I just don’t see any reasonable scenario wherein Kelly cannot be the surefire second-stringer behind Case Keenum. I do believe, however, that the Broncos need to quit the Paxton Lynch experiment.

It’s obvious that he is not getting any better.

I also admit that at tailback, rookies Royce Freeman and Phillip Lindsay have greatly impressed.

Freeman is averaging six yards a carry in the preseason thus far and has a touchdown in all three of the exhibition games.

He is also the only Broncos “starter” who is playing this evening. This is because head coach Vance Joseph seemingly insists on Devontae Booker being a starting tailback, so Freeman has been dubbed a “quasi-starter” on Broncos Twitter.

For games like this, the injury report is rather vanilla because the Broncos and Cardinals are generally resting their starters in anticipation of the season opener.

However, the hope is that safety Su’a Cravens plays for the Broncos in this game.

It is noteworthy as well that prized Cardinals rookie and purported future franchise quarterback Josh Rosen will not play.

Ultimately, what is best for the Broncos in this one, is that Kelly plays well enough to make Lynch expendable.

Of course, it’s also essential for the Broncos to depart from this game with no injuries.

As the NFL’s only two Mountain Time Zone teams, the Broncos and Cardinals are natural preseason opponents. This game commemorates the 12th time in the past 14 preseasons that these two squads have met.

The Broncos are 17-9 (.654) against the Cardinals in the preseason all-time and 7-5 in such games on the road.

The Broncos are also 30-28 (.517) all-time in preseason finales and have won 14 of their last 19 finales.

Because the Broncos and Cardinals will be meeting October 18 in Glendale, AZ (week seven), expect this game to be extremely vanilla.

When the games count and the margin of error is so thin, it’s not worth it to leave anything up to chance.

Temperatures in the Phoenix metro area, or “the valley” as it is known to locals, will reach 106 degrees Thursday. Since the game will be played in a stadium with a retractable roof, the outside temperature is completely irrelevant though.

You can watch the game live on NFL Network or on NFL Game Pass if you are a subscribing member to the service. Follow along here for reactions and commentary as the game progresses.