Nobody ever said preseason football was pretty.
Here are four takeaways from a gruesome Hall of Fame Game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Denver Broncos, a 14-10 victory for Denver.
The early Matt Schaub-led offense was ugly
Schaub’s first series was rough, as he sailed a couple of passes high and the offense went three-and-out. The second series was not any better, nor the third. NFL teams don’t want to reveal much of their playbook at this time of the year, and offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter’s pass calls were vanilla, as expected. Denver also did a good job stuffing the Falcons’ rush attack early. The combination effectively snuffed out the first-quarter offense. When Schaub left the field, he had minus-2 passing yards.
Schaub would get another chance, though.
Kurt Benkert was much better by comparison
When Benkert subbed into the game late in the first quarter, the offense came to life. Benkert moved the chains right away with a bootleg pass to tight end Jaeden Graham and later completed a sideline pass to receiver Russell Gage for a first down on third-and-18. The drive went nowhere, but he delivered some more zip on his passes than Schaub had right away.
Benkert picked things up again to close out the half, delivering a strong drive punctuated by a laser to Shawn Bane at the goal line, then finishing it off with a short touchdown pass to running back Brian Hill. That helped tie the score going into halftime.
Benkert got away with a couple of bad balls that could have been picked off, but he didn’t get much help from his receivers. He had to leave the game in the fourth quarter with a toe injury.
Benkert finished the evening 19 of 34 for 185 yards, one touchdown and an 81.1 passer rating.
With Benkert on the sideline, Schaub came back in to finish the fourth quarter and threw an interception. Schaub got hit on the throw, but he finished just 4 of 14 with a passer rating of 9.8.
Special teams are a work in progress
One area the Falcons set out to improve this offseason was special teams. They got rid of longtime coordinator Keith Armstrong and replaced him with Ben Kotwica. They dumped kicker Matt Bryant and drafted a new kick return specialist, and so on.
Let’s call it a work in progress.
In the first quarter, sixth-round draft pick Marcus Green showed some of that return ability we have been hearing so much about, starting the Falcons out at the 31-yard line. Bad starting field position has been a huge problem for Atlanta the last few years, so if Green can help turn that dynamic around, he’ll be worth the draft pick for that alone.
Green left the game early with a hamstring issue though and fumbled a punt return. Wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus dropped one, too.
Also, kicker Giorgio Tavecchio missed a field goal in the first half. To be fair, it was from 54 yards out, but there seems to be plenty of room for growth in this area.
John Cominsky is going to be trouble
It’s only one meaningless preseason game, but the rookie defensive end flashed enough times against Denver on defense and special teams to earn some legitimate hype.
In the first quarter, he recovered a fumbled punt return.
Comsinky also downed a punt and made a few special teams tackles.
His true talent is disruption, though. It didn’t take long for Cominsky to record a sack against rookie QB Drew Lock.
He also showed off his run defense with a fine tackle for a loss.
Cominsky seems like he might be one of those rookies who can make an impact right away in the NFL. Like previous midround draft gems Damontae Kazee, Grady Jarrett and Tevin Coleman, he oozes potential.
If nothing else, the Falcons should feel very excited about what lies ahead for their fourth-round pick.
