The final preseason game—little scheming, fewer names, and absolutely zero meaning.

To make matters worse, a lot of dudes wearing orange and blue tonight won’t have a job tomorrow. That’s a cold reality in a colder football world. It’s a little depressing, frankly—like an afterschool special without the moral lesson.

The good news is that Peyton Manning has been game planning to pluck the feathers out of the Ravens for two weeks.

So take a day and lament the Broncos who won’t have jobs tomorrow. Thank them for their service. Even wish some of them a path to the practice squad.

Then get ready for some big-boy football, the kind they play when the scores start to matter.

The Positives

Brock Osweiler played his best game of the preseason, and even though he was facing a vanilla defense sweetened by second- and third-stringers, it’s not something we should minimize. That’s because he slowed down and went through his progressions several times. As I said last week, we’ll never really know if he’s a quality NFL QB until he’s out there, but he’s taking steps at the very least. Jeremiah Johnson did what he could, but the Broncos just have too much depth at running back. I liked Omar Bolden testing the waters at safety. You can never have enough swing players. Quentin Jammer, for whatever reason, just wasn’t comfortable doing it. Gerrell Robinson certainly outplayed Tavarres King tonight. Based on play, Robinson stays and King goes. John Lynch thinks Zac Dysert made it hard for the Broncos to cut him, and I agree. His back-shoulder throw for the touchdown was quite nice. Still, sugar and spice, and everything nice—that’s what practice squads are made of.

The Negatives

Hey, Osweiler, when you slide, feel free to do it feet first. Let’s hope C.J. Anderson survives to hit the practice squad. I think Denver cuts him. This means Jacob Hester makes the squad, which I say is negative. Others say: “fullbacks matter.” Aaron Hester again got torched for a long gain. The injury to Lerentee McCray—let’s hope that’s not the thing that costs him a roster spot. He’s certainly earned one, in my view.

The Who The Heck Knows

Ted and I were chuckling about the end of the first half. If John Fox takes a knee, he gets criticized for being conservative. If he tries for points and gets someone hurt in a meaningless preseason game, he gets beat on for not playing it smart. I say we dispense with the argument until it matters in the regular season. John Elway’s interview during the third quarter was about as interesting as watching a final preseason game. Go figure. In case you missed it, Jim Saccomano is officially retiring at the end of the year. I’d love to pick on him, but how can you argue with a guy who pimps Terrell Davis for the Hall of Fame? When the camera focused on Von Miller in the fourth quarter, I have to admit, my first thought was, how much weed would Miller need to smoke to make a final preseason game interesting? A prediction: John Fox is much more aggressive this year on fourth downs. Don’t ask me why. It’s just a gut feeling combined with the fact that he practiced his gridiron courage an awful lot in the preseason.

Now go on, give us your final roster.