How the Denver Broncos Should Approach Their Final Preseason Game

On Thursday night, the Denver Broncos have their final preseason tune-up at the Arizona Cardinals before the regular season starts. Much of the talk this preseason has really been about the quarterback position. Kyle Orton has clearly established himself as the starter. Therefore, there is absolutely no reason at all to even play him in this last game. In fact, I would not even have him suit up.

Brady Quinn has consistently looked sharp, and has had probably the best training camp of his career. He appears to have the backup spot wrapped up. That means that Quinn is the guy that would come in the game if something were to happen to Orton.

For that reason, Quinn should start this final preseason game and play a couple series with the starters. How Quinn does is not as important as the experience of being in a game situation with guys like Brandon Lloyd, Knowshon Moreno and Willis McGahee. I would give Quinn the first quarter or so depending on how things are going.

Quinn getting action with the starters is important in case the Broncos need him in the regular season. Also, if he looks good, there is the possibility of another team wanting to acquire him.

Then I would give extensive action to Tim Tebow. Tebow showed two things last Saturday. He showed why people can't stop talking about him because of his playmaking ability in games. He also showed that he is clearly not ready to be an NFL quarterback. His inability to even take a snap cleanly is something that would cause great concern.

Tebow will only improve so much in practice. He really needs game experience, and this might honestly be his last chance at game experience this season. That is unless John Fox has a special package of plays for him like Josh McDaniels did. Whether or not he does remains to be seen. For that reason, Tebow must get a lot of work on Thursday night.

Then that leaves undrafted rookie Adam Weber. We have not seen him much in the games yet, but reports are that he has looked good in practice. Denver has to give him the fourth quarter and let him get a little game experience. If nothing else, see if he is worth keeping around on the practice squad.

If Weber performs well, Denver might want to think about keeping him as the third quarterback and putting Tebow or Quinn on the trading block.

That seems to be the best way to handle the preseason finale. The most important thing is that there are no bad injuries in the game.