Mile High Report
The Denver Broncos didn’t play most of their starters, but one player sure looked like an elite starter out there. Quarterback Jarrett Stidham had himself a game against the Arizona Cardinals a week after having himself a game against the San Francisco 49ers. The guy just commanded the field out there and could not be stopped. Through two preseason games, Stidham is 30/38 for 376 yards and four touchdowns. He led the offense to scoring drives in four of their first five offensive possessions.
There are still questions about the Broncos first-team offense, but we’ll need to wait until Week 1 to get those questions answered. I suspect they’ll be just fine. The real story is the Broncos have better depth than people might have expected. This is a deep roster in 2025.
After shutting down the Cardinals first offensive drive, the Broncos offense under Jarrett Stidham came out pinned at their own 3 yard line. Stidham went 3/3 for 89 yards and a touchdown on that drive making it all look too easy. The big pass plays went to Evan Engram for 58-yards and another nice pass over the middle to rookie Pat Bryant for 29-yards.
From there, a hand-off up the middle to rookie RJ Harvey who scampered in from eight yards out for his first NFL touchdown. The Broncos offense looked clean and crisp to start the game.
The Cardinals answered with their own touchdown drive, but Jarrett Stidham just could not be stopped. The next drive took 13-plays for 70 yards, but he would cap the drive with a 27-yard strike to Troy Franklin to put Denver back up by a touchdown late in the first quarter.
Stidham and the Broncos offense had to overcome three pre-snap penalties on offense in that drive too. Through two drives, Stidham was 6/9 for 149 yards and a touchdown. Denver has a pretty dang good backup quarterback.
Broncos 14, Cardinals 7.
Denver’s defense stuffed the Cardinals offense on their third drive giving the ball right back to Stidham and the Broncos offense. A big run by Jaleel McLaughlin for 35-yards set the Broncos up at the Cardinals 11-yard line.
Two plays later on third and one, Stidham threw the ball away and Denver stayed on the field to go for it on fourth and one from the two yard line. However, a false start penalty brought the kicking unit out to extend the Broncos lead to 10-points capping an 11-play, 70 yard drive.
The teams traded punts before Denver got one more chance to move the ball from inside their own 20-yard line with two minutes left in the half.
The two minute drill began with a deep out to Troy Franklin for 16-yards. From there, Stidham hit Michael Bandy for another 16-yards. A deep ball on the next play to Trent Sherfield Sr. was interfered with to put Denver into field goal range with plenty of time to work with in the...
