Arizona vs. Denver in Mile High City for Preseason Matchup
Following a preseason opening win over the Kansas City Chiefs, the Arizona Cardinals travel to their lone road preseason game, as they prepare to take on the Denver Broncos in Week Two of the preseason from the Mile High City at 9:30 p.m. EST Saturday. This marks the third consecutive year that Arizona and Denver have partaken in a preseason game, with each team splitting the previous two matchups. Along with being Arizona’s lone road preseason game, the Cardinals traveled to Denver a couple of days early to take part in a joint practice with the Broncos on Thursday. This will also be the third consecutive year that Arizona has participated in a joint practice on the road, as the hot temperatures make it difficult for the Cardinals to host a joint practice.
Arizona heads into this matchup fresh off a 20-17 win over the defending AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs, in which a second-quarter surge helped pave the way for a home-opening preseason win. Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett led the way after tossing two touchdowns in his one quarter of work. The Arizona defense helped force two interceptions off Kansas City quarterback Bailey Zappe en route to a win. The Cardinals' starters were also able to get a quarter’s worth of work in, but weren’t perfect, as they shook off the annual offseason rust. For the upcoming matchup against Denver, it was announced during the joint practice on Thursday that the Cardinals and Broncos starters won’t play, except for a few players getting some snaps in. It’ll be another test for Arizona’s backups to show that they can handle another team, but this test might be tougher than the last after witnessing what Denver did in its first preseason game.
In the aforementioned Broncos game, they traveled to San Francisco and went on to dismantle the 49ers 30-9. Just like the Cardinals, Denver used a second-quarter surge, after falling 9-0 early, to jump out in front of San Francisco and never give the lead back. Broncos quarterback Jarrett Stidham led the way, completing 14 of his 15 passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns for a passer rating of 144. Quarterback Sam Ehlinger also helped contribute late in Denver’s win, as he tossed a touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Broncos' defense also went on to have its way with the 49ers, as it allowed one score all game and forced four turnovers, three of which were interceptions. As for the rest of the stats, they ended up eerily close to the game that Arizona had against Kansas City, which brings intrigue to this upcoming matchup. The Cardinals and Broncos are set to face off at 9:30 p.m. EST Saturday from Empower Field at Mile High in Denver.
