The Denver Broncos preseason is now officially over.
After beating the Dallas Cowboys in their first exhibition, the Broncos were trounced by the Buffalo Bills on the road. They concluded the preseason schedule with a 23-13 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday night.
Did we learn anything from these meaningless scrimmages?
Possibly, but we might have to dig.
Deep.
We learned that new head coach Nathaniel Hackett is going to be a player’s coach.
Hackett barely played any true starters in these admittedly worthless games. We have yet to see a single starter in the Broncos offensive backfield. Hackett will trust new QB Russell Wilson to get his offensive teammates ready on the practice field instead. Let’s hope it’s the right move.
We have also learned that Hackett will be a far cry from former head coach Vic Fangio in the department of clock management.
Against Dallas in the first preseason game, after a defensive sack with 1:14 remaining in the first half, Hackett burned a timeout. The defense then forced an incompletion by the Cowboys offense. The Broncos offense got the ball back, and added a quick field goal, at the final gun of the first half.
These manuevers were nowhere to be found in the Fangio era, and seemed to baffle him when questioned about them. Decided advantage: Hackett.
We learned that the Broncos have had quite the competition for their backup quarterback job.
Both Josh Johnson and Brett Rypien have shown some moments of competency. The 36-year-old Johnson has gone 35/53 for 349 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Meanwhile Rypien, who is just 26, went 51/65 with 441 yards, He threw one touchdown and one interception.
Do the Broncos go with youth or experience? Honestly, should Russell Wilson go down, we are probably in trouble either way.
We learned that the Broncos have more depth at running back after Melvin Gordon and Javonte Williams.
Mike Boone didn’t get a ton of playing time, but he definitely has some explosive pop, that could earn him some playing time this season.
Speaking of explosion, we learned that the Broncos may have found a playmaker in Samford rookie Montrell Washington.
The Broncos selected Washington with their fifth round pick this year, and he may find a way on to the field with some his skills. This kid might be a weapon.
We learned that while the Broncos will be without WR Tim Patrick all year due to a knee injury, KJ Hamler looks like he is back and ready to roll.
Hamler was activated for the third preseason game against the Vikings and played 25 of the first 32 offensive plays in the first half. He caught three passes for 18 yards and took one pretty good hit.
For a kid coming back from such a serious ACL/hip injury, it was encouraging to see him back and contributing again.
We learned once again, that the NFL is indeed a business, and businesses are all about money.
After setting a franchise record for the Broncos last year in net punting average, punter Sam Martin was asked to take a pay cut. He refused. The Broncos have now cut Martin, and will go forward with Corliss Waitman as the lone punter on the roster instead.
With all of the problems the Buffalo Bills are having in the punter department, expect Martin to be a Bill very soon.
We learned that while there may be improvements from the era of Fangio…things like general morale, clock management, and an actual offensive gameplan, this defense may take a step backward.
Against Buffalo in Game 2, the Bills rushed for 208 yards on just 27 carries (7.7 avg). The trio of Josh Allen, Case Keenum, and Matt Barkley went 26/29 for 302 yards, and the Bills scored six touchdowns on their first six drives.
Yes, the Bills played their starters against the Broncos backups. Yes, the Bills are the Vegas odds favorite to win the Super Bowl this season.
But the missed tackles and complete domination up front was something that we didn’t see often under grumpy-pants Fangio.
The most important thing that we have learned so far?
That we still don’t know all that much.
The defense might be good when we actually see Dre’Mont and DJ Jones, along with Randy Gregory and Bradley Chubb all on the field at the same time.
And how different will the Denver offense look with Russell Wilson under center, daring the defense to load up the box against the run game?
Remember that since entering the NFL in 2012, Wilson leads all quarterbacks in throws traveling at least 25 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, with a completion rate of nearly 42%.
After three preseason games, we still have much to learn.
The true tests begin in 13 days.
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