Do you smell that?

Burgers, bratwurst, and jalapeno poppers are mere days away from being viciously consumed during the first week of the NFL season. The 2018 campaign has gone from being within shouting distance to now looking us dead in the eyes. I couldn’t be more excited.

First, however, we had to suffer through the final game of the preseason.

Don’t get me wrong, I am just happy to see football again. I even plopped myself on the couch to watch two random high schools duke it out on ESPN last weekend. But the fourth and final preseason game rarely has much to offer from an entertainment perspective.

Let’s just be thankful that we have made it through the last meaningless football game of 2018, and dive into the takeaways from the Broncos and Cardinals battle of the backups.

1. Chad Kelly is still the backup quarterback

Kelly was never really vying for the starting quarterback position, but he has far and away shown himself to be the best option as the No. 2.

There has been a lot of hype surrounding Kelly dating back to the day he was drafted as Mr. Irrelevant.

Why shouldn’t there be? He was a dominant SEC quarterback.

But his first NFL start was somewhat of a mixed bag.

Kelly finished the evening by completing 12 of his 19 pass attempts for 126 yards. After moving the ball right down into Cardinals’ territory on the first drive of the game, he made an early mistake by tossing an interception on a short pass over the middle of the field.

After a few short drives following his pick, Kelly bounced back and put together a strong 11-play drive that led to the Broncos first three points of the game.

Kelly certainly didn’t play up to the level of his previous preseason appearances, but he didn’t do poorly enough to threaten his backup quarterback status.

He should be your backup signal caller going into the 2018 season.