Three takeaways from the Broncos' 23-13 win over the Minnesota Vikings

DENVER, Colo. — The preseason is officially over in Denver.

The Broncos beat the Minnesota Vikings 23-13 Saturday night at Empower Field. Neither team played their starters, making the matchup an even battle in the eyes of Vegas. The Broncos finished the preseason with a 2-1 record.

Here’s what went down.

McTelvin Agim creates havoc

One of the most contested spots on the roster is along the defensive line. A handful of guys are competing for a few spots and a couple of them will make it into the gameday rotation too.

On Saturday, one lineman stood far above the rest: McTelvin Agim

Agim ripped the ball out of a running backs hands on the Broncos’ first defensive play. He batted a pass away at the line of scrimmage to force a third down. Just after the Broncos regained the lead less than a minute before halftime, Agim worked a stunt with Baron Browning and both players got to the quarterback. A blow from behind from Agim knocked the ball out and Browning picked it up and ran it into the end zone.

“t was the first game we used [the stunt],” Browning said after the game. “We executed it well and with the miscues on the other side, me and McTelvin made the sack and got the ball out. Scooping and scoring, we work on it all the time in practice, scooping and scoring, the ball was out there, and I was ready.”

Agim was a third-round draft pick in 2020 but hasn’t broken through yet. His big night on Saturday may be the reason he keeps ahold of his job in Denver.

Speaking of sacks, rookie outside linebacker Nik Bonitto notched back-to-back sacks on the Vikings’ final drive to seal the game. One was a strip sack.

Mike Boone sparks the running game

After a couple of lackluster performances, the Broncos’ running game bounced back on Saturday.

Veteran running back Mike Boone led the way.

Boone bounced an inside run and turned the corner on the edge on his way to a 16-yard gain.

He hit the hole hard deep in his own territory, found another crease at the second level, juked a defensive back out of his shoes and broke a linebacker’s tackle attempt on his way to a 15-yard gain.

Boone wasn’t on the field much, but he put up 44 yards on five carries and caught a pair of passes for a seven-yard gain. He had a great night.

“Boone started it off by being able to take advantage of some great presses and cutting back the wide receivers,” head coach Nathaniel Hackett said. “It takes all 11 to run the game, and I really felt like those guys all bought in on that and they looked good today.”

The 27-year-old began his career in Minnesota as a backup to Dalvin Cook before joining the Broncos as a free agent last summer. He’s only carried the rock more than 11 times in a season once, back in 2019 when he picked up 273 yards on 49 carries. Boone will be the Broncos’ third running back and the Broncos may carve out a role for him.

New pickup Devine Ozigbo got half of the Broncos’ carries, putting up 59 yards on 13 attempts. He may be the favorite to land on the practice squad among the Broncos’ backs.

The quarterbacks hold serve

When the Broncos brought in Josh Johnson this offseason, the 36-year-old became the clear favorite for the Broncos’ backup quarterback job. But Denver started Brett Rypien in the final preseason game and the picture changed.

Rypien’s first drive started at the three-yard line and he drove his offense 89 yards over 12 plays, before ending the series with an interception. KJ Hamler was running a slant from the slot. The defense had six players on the line of scrimmage and man coverage across the board. But the edge rusher next to Hamler dropped back and cut off the slant. Hamler took an extra step upfield to get around him, then broke inside. The corner was right on his hip and was able to contest the pass. The ball bounced up in the air and was intercepted. It wasn’t a terrible throw, but Rypien deserves some of the blame for the outcome.

(By the way, Hamler had a really solid day in his return from ACL surgery. He caught three passes for 18 yards in short work but was open on more occasions.)

Still, Rypien completed 14 of 21 passes and picked up 137 yards. Johnson completed 11 of his 14 pass attempts.

“You can see that with the efficiency that they have had,” Hackett said. “We only had that one pick today that was down by the redzone. Besides that, they were great with the football in their hands. They were proficient. I haven’t seen the stats, but I think we got a solid amount of completions and I think that’s what you’re looking for from both of those guys. So, it’s going to be a hard decision to see where we go with that and both guys have worked hard. It was great to see ‘Ryp’ come out and earn that opportunity to start. He did a fine job too.”

Both quarterbacks were solid at worst but neither ran away with the job. We’ll see who gets the second quarterback roster spot on Tuesday.