9:16 P.M. MDT: Some power for Selvin Young, who doesn’t burrow into the line the way Andre Hall does but really becomes a sack of bricks when he runs into defenders in the open field…

9:17 P.M. MDT: And then, oh, what a move to the left side as Young moves around blocks from Mark Fenton and Glenn Martinez — in addition to leaving a Cardinals defender flat-footed — for the score. There’s 14:09 left, and the rout is on … 21-3.

9:20 P.M. MDT: Todd Sauerbrun clobbers another kickoff 74 yards that Breaston opts to return … and he gets tackled at the 17.

9:24 P.M. MDT: Maybe I’m slow, but after seeing Wesly Mallard make the tackle there, I just realized … Mallard’s a Duck! I know he went to Oregon; I was aware of that for a while, but for some reason, I just put that together. Yeah, I know, I’m a scosh slow. And speaking of Oregon … the pride of Portland, Preston Parsons, is now in for the Broncos.

9:31 P.M. MDT: I’m writing the game recap concurrently, so my entries are a tad sparse right now. Denver’s possession ended after penalties and some struggles forced the Broncos into a third-and-19; the Big Red promptly brought the house, the barn and the garage on Parsons, who had absolutely no place to go and let fly a pass that was deflected incomplete.

9:32 P.M. MDT: USA Today is reporting that the NFL will change its logo to this next year — what do you think?

9:36 P.M. MDT: Praise to Steve Cargile for a shoestring, touchdown-preventing tackle on Arizona’s Steve Baylark.

9:39 P.M. MDT: And Cargile comes through again, with a red-zone interception. Nicely done for the safety, who singlehandedly helps the Broncos keep a three-score lead.

9:48 P.M. MDT: Update as I also write the recap … Parsons’ second drive ends in a punt, which was a howitzer shot from Sauerbrun that sent Michael Spurlock scurrying back to the 2-yard-line to catch it. Sauerbrun has averaged 54.7 yards per punt tonight, and three of his four kickoffs have reached the end zone … Arizona going for it on fourth-and-10 from the Denver 48 with 3:26 left. Why not? It’s the preseason …

9:51 P.M. MDT: The fourth down fails, and Denver takes over in good field position. Broncos lining up in a power-I formation, with Paul Smith in at fullback and Nate Jackson and Tony Scheffler at tight ends. We hit the two-minute warning; and it seems everyone is content to let the clock drain. Unless something radical happens, I’m out from blogland … Been a pleasure, as always; love the comments, love the conversation. Blogging has become my favorite part of the job; talking to y’all is a pleasure. Enjoy the night, everyone … I’m off to the locker room. Until next time, vaya con Dios.

8:40 P.M. MDT: And we’re back for the second half. Quincy Morgan can’t field the kickoff; it sailed through the end zone for a touchback.

8:41 P.M. MDT: Two penalties in the last three minutes of game time for Mark Fenton; he takes a false-start penalty that puts the Broncos back at their 15. Mike Bell lining up at fullback blocking for Selvin Young; Young goes left behind the blocks of Bell and the offensive line, but is swamped for no gain.

8:43 P.M. MDT: Third-and-14, and Darrell Hackney’s pass is behind Brian Clark, forcing a Broncos punt.

8:44 P.M. MDT: Sauerbrun uncorks a 57-yard punt; the net is 53 after the ball is bobbled upon the return.

8:46 P.M. MDT: In at quarterback for Arizona — Lang Campbell. Sounds like the name of a struggling golfer hacking it on the Asian Tour.

8:47 P.M. MDT: Antwon Burton with some extensive action tonight, although he comes out on third down. Jarvis Moss is still rotating into the game in pass-rush situations … Great play by Hamza Abdullah to capitalize on the fact that Campbell lobbed a pass to Michael Spurlock; the toss gave Abdullah time to move across the field and disrupt the play, giving the Broncos defense a three-and-out.

8:52 P.M. MDT: Broncos trying some deception here … an end-around one moment, a fake end-around the next. The Cardinals didn’t bite on the latter, but Chris Cooper decided to turn Andre Hall into a human Tilt-O-Whirl, grabbing his facemask and turning him about 120 degrees. Thankfully, the play drew a 15-yard face mask.

8:54 P.M. MDT: Hall shows no ill effects, pumping his legs for a 7-yard gain on the next play.

8:55 P.M. MDT: You’ve got to love Darrell Hackney trying to make an impression of John Elway with the run to the right on third down … if he gets hit the right way, he’s helicoptering. Instead, he just has the first down.

8:56 P.M. MDT: We have a Marquay McDaniel sighting … 18 yards on the pass from Hackney, and a trip into the red zone for the Broncos at the Arizona 15 … Paul Smith blocking for Andre Hall now, and he helps the running back get six yards.

8:58 P.M. MDT: Hall running, as Ted Sundquist likes to say, “with authority.” He’s pounded the Broncos to the 2… and then burrows his way behind the left side of the offensive line for his second touchdown of the night.

9:01 P.M. MDT: Sauerbrun’s first kickoff to NOT make it to the end zone comes about three yards short. Arizona will take over at its 23 after the return.

9:06 P.M. MDT: Denver’s defense playing with a two-score lead for the first time this month … It has Arizona in third-and-7 at the Cardinals 39 … Plenty of defenders there to force an incompletion, with Jeff Shoate leaving the way.

9:09 P.M. MDT: Nice 21-yard punt return by Glenn Martinez, who tightroped the sideline for some extra yardage. Martinez has struggled with injuries this summer, but when he’s in the lineup, he has nice body control for a player of his lanky build. An intriguing prospect … especially since he found fifth gear pretty quickly on that return.

9:10 P.M. MDT: Third time for the end-around to Hixon, and this time it goes for a 1-yard loss.

9:11 P.M. MDT: More props for Martinez, the pride of Auburndale High School … nice comeback to get 10 yards on the third-and-9 pass from Hackney. By the way, Auburndale’s nickname is the Bloodhounds, and one of their rivals in Polk County, Fla. is Lakeland, whose nickname is the Dreadnaughts. Gotta love Polk County football … some of the best in what is, in my opinion, the best football state. (Sorry, Texas, but I’ve got to represent my former home.)

9:13 P.M. MDT: Now it’s Nate Jackson’s turn to get one of Hackney’s tosses for a third-down conversion. The first-year quarterback is looking more comfortable as the game progresses. Quarter’s over … more coming in the fourth-quarter entry.

7:44 P.M. MDT: Stephen Alexander’s movements are quite labored over on the near sideline; he’s attempting to walk, but is struggling to get anything more than a tepid gait going.

7:45 P.M. MDT: Nice dart from Darrell Hackney to Brian Clark for 11 yards up the middle, moving the Broncos to first-and-goal at the 2.

7:45 P.M. MDT: Touchdown, Andre Hall, right up the middle … he keeps the ball; it’s his first pro touchdown. (He had plenty back at South Florida, as some of our Tampa visitors to the blog are aware!) It’s 7-3, Broncos, after the PAT is good.

7:47 P.M. MDT: I reported in the first quarter that Alexander was favoring his right leg … but now, it looks like team medical personnel is looking at the tight end’s left leg. If we hear anything definitive, we’ll pass it on.

7:48 P.M. MDT: And here’s the update … Alexander has a bruised lower left leg and will not return tonight.

7:49 P.M. MDT: Paul Smith with the big hit after Steve Breaston returned Todd Sauerbrun’s kickoff 25 yards to the Arizona 20 … Smith rockin’ the black cleats. I like it. Old-school. My kind of guy.

7:50 P.M. MDT: Kurt Warner out; Shane Boyd in at quarterback for the Cardinals. Starting to see some different numbers in for the boys in blue; John Browning and Kenny Peterson are at the ends; T.J. Hollowell’s getting some time at outside linebacker.

7:53 P.M. MDT: Arizona on the move to its 45, now headed backwards after a holding infraction against Tim Euhus. (By the way, is it bad that I have to look at the flipcard to see who some of these guys on Arizona are? I know the Broncos by heart, but now that we’re on the third and fourth rung of the Cardinals roster, I’m having trouble with the instant recall.)

7:56 P.M. MDT: Domenik Hixon makes a fair catch of the punt at the Denver 8 … a few wanna-be coaches in the stands boo, asserting that he should have let that one go.

8:00 P.M. MDT: Kind of a balky series there as Denver goes three-and-out; Selvin Young gets four yards on a third-and-9, leaving the Broncos at their 13 as Sauerbrun comes onto the field.

8:01 P.M. MDT: Sauerbrun’s 51-yard punt was a line drive tht Steve Breaston returned 11 yards; he might have gotten more on the runback, but T.J. Hollowell helped guide him to the sideline, minimizing the return damage. Still, you’ll take a net of 40 yards on a punt, and the Cardinals will take over at their 47 with 7:41 left in the quarter.

8:04 P.M. MDT: Not good … after Karl Paymah made the tackle on that second-and-7 play, Hamza Abdullah and Jeff Shoate frantically signaled for help from the sidelines. Paymah lowered his helmet, and Steve Baylark’s knee collided with Paymah’s head.

8:06 P.M. MDT: Paymah is still being treated on the field as a phalanx of medical personnel huddles around him. A cart with a stretcher has made its way to within a few yards of the cornerback, who remains on the ground.

8:07 P.M. MDT: The silence in the stadium right now is eerie and haunting. Antwon Burton has his left arm draped around the shoulders of Abdullah, who teammed with Paymah at Washington State and roomed with him there and in Denver two years ago.

8:10 P.M. MDT: Paymah has left the field; he was lifted onto a stretcher and carted away. From my angle, I could not tell whether Paymah was moving any extremities. As soon as I hear any information, I will pass it along.

8:11 P.M. MDT: KOA-AM 850 reports that Paymah gave a thumb’s up to fans as he went into the tunnel.

8:12 P.M. MDT: Just announced — Paymah suffered a concussion and will be taken to the hospital as a precaution.

8:12 P.M. MDT: Oh, by the way, there’s a game going on … Arizona has moved to the Denver 20. Hard to get back in the mood for the game after seeing both Alexander and Paymah leave the game with injuries already tonight.

8:14 P.M. MDT: Jarvis Moss was looking a little labored after a play, but he stays in the game … good open-field tackle by Louis Green on Baylark pushes Arizona into third-and-12 from the Denver 18.

8:15 P.M. MDT: The third-down draw worked again … Shane Boyd runs for 10 yards on third-and-12. Edgerrin James got 11 yards on a first-quarter, third-and-10 draw. It’s the two-minute warning now, and Arizona will decide whether to go for it on fourth-and-2 from the 8.

8:17 P.M. MDT: Arizona going for it … goal-line formation … Boyd with the playfake … throws into traffic … ball bounces off Hollowell … eventually falls incomplete.

8:19 P.M. MDT: Mike Bell still at fullback … Andre Hall running behind Hall and tight end Tony Scheffler, but the runner didn’t have much place to go before getting slammed at the sidelined by Monty Beisel. Denver now has third-and-8 at the 10.

8:21 P.M. MDT: A great run by Hall on third-and-3 (after a Cardinals penalty), on which he showed some fine quickness into the open field … but it goes for naught, as a Mark Fenton holding penalty (which really didn’t impact the run all that much, frankly), moves the Broncos back to their 8 with third-and-10. Hackney then gets sacked as Chris Cooper sprinted through the right side of the Broncos line for a five-yard sack.

8:24 P.M. MDT: Great punt by Sauerbrun (52 yards) and some solid downfield coverage by Mike Leach and Nate Jackson, among others, who took advantage of Steve Breaston’s dancing upon fielding the punt. A net of 49 is what Denver needed there.

8:26 P.M. MDT: Arizona moves 19 yards … enough to set Neil Rackers up for a 50-yard field-goal attempt that sails wide left. Halftime, and Denver leads 7-3.

7:01 P.M. MDT: The Sound of the Rockies, our national anthem singers tonight, have departed the field. Quarterbacks Darrell Hackney and Preston Parsons are warming up. I presume Hackney will start, given his place on the depth chart, one notch ahead of Parsons. The Broncos have a much more robust corps of running backs tonight than last week, with Selvin Young, Mike Bell, Cecil Sapp and Andre Hall all in uniform and in pads. Now we await the coin toss.

7:05 P.M. MDT: Arizona wins the coin toss by calling tails. Denver’s captains are Jason Elam, Curome Cox and Darrell Hackney.

7:07 P.M. MDT: Todd Sauerbrun clobbers the opening kickoff seven yards deep into the end zone. Arizona opens with its first-string offense agaist Denver’s No. 2 defense … and Edgerrin James promptly darts 13 yards up the middle on the game’s first play.

7:10 P.M. MDT: Denver’s starting defense: Ends Tim Crowder and Jarvis Moss … tackles Marcus Thomas and Antwon Burton … outside linebackers Cameron Vaughn and Louis Green … middle linebacker Nate Webster … safeties Curome Cox and Hamza Abdullah … cornerbacks Karl Paymah and Jeff Shoate.

7:11 P.M. MDT: Ouch for Denver’s second-team defense … having forced the Cardinals into third-and-10 from the the Arizona 38, James promptly skips left on a draw and gets 11 yards to revive the possession.

7:12 P.M. MDT: Two plays later, James gives way to Marcel Shipp, who proves just as successful as the starter darting 22 yards to the left side and moving Arizona to the Denver 24. One play later, Curome Cox nearly intercepted a Matt Leinart pass towards Anquan Boldin.

7:14 P.M. MDT: It’s not so much third downs as runs that are killing the Broncos on this drive. Shipp and James each have a pair of double-digit-yardage carries as the Cardinals are now at the Denver 10 with second-and-8.

7:15 P.M. MDT: Not a good moment for Jarvis Moss on the second-and-8 play; he slipped while chasing after Leinart, leaving the quarterback enough room to look beyond the lanky first-round defensive end and find tight end Leonard Pope for a connection that set up first-and-goal at the Denver 2.

7:17 P.M. MDT: Nice play by D.D. Lewis in the back of the end zone to break up a Leinart lob for Pope. Arizona takes timeout and has third-and-goal forthcoming after the respite.

7:18 P.M. MDT: Arizona’s Web site refers to their head coach, Ken Wisenhunt, simply as “Whiz.” With this kind of official confirmation, I feel secure providing this link.

7:20 P.M. MDT: Great play by Bill Alford to close on Larry Fitzgerald on third-and-goal, although it made no difference because Fitzgerald was out of bounds. Alford was slow in rising after the play; it appeared Fitzgerald inadvertently got a foot into the cornerback’s gut, but he is now walking off the field.

7:21 P.M. MDT: 3-0 Arizona after Neil Rackers’ field goal.7:26 P.M. MDT: Andre Hall drops the opening kickoff in the end zone as he fields it for a touchback … Darrell Hackney starts at quarterback. Cecil Sapp is at fullback with Selvin Young at tailback. The wide receivers are Brian Clark and Domenik Hixon, with Stephen Alexander at tight end. The right tackle is Chad Mustard; the left tackle is Chris Kuper; the right guard is Emmanuel Akah; the left guard is Mark Fenton; and the center is Greg Eslinger. Meanwhile, Hackney notched a 10-yard run on third-and-5 for a first down.

7:26 P.M. MDT: Some nice blocking from Nate Jackson helps spring Young outside for an 8-yard run, moving Denver to its 43. The Broncos now face third-and-2 … and Young’s carry will leave the Broncos about a half-yard short.

7:28 P.M. MDT: Looks like the Broncos might go for it; they huddled and will now call timeout. As Dan Fouts might say, “Last game of the preseason; can’t hold anything back.”

7:30 P.M. MDT: So much for that; Broncos are now punting.

7:32 P.M. MDT: I’m watching Andre Hall closely, since it’s his first preseason game after injuring his hamstring … so far, he’s dropped a kickoff but also made a fine special-teams tackle, beating all his teammates to Cardinals punt returner Steve Breaston just now. Kurt Warner and the Arizona understudies are now in the game.

7:34 P.M. MDT: So that’s what John Lynch is talking about … he speaks with admiration about Hamza Abdullah’s potential, and he just made an outstanding open-field tackle on Arizona tailback J.J. Arrington for a three-yard loss. Denver now has Arizona in third-and-8 from the Big Red 25.

7:35 P.M. MDT: A third-down stop, as Kurt Warner overshoots Breaston. Arizona punter Mike Barr sends one out of bounds … but not until it first went 50 yards, forcing the Broncos to start at their 25.

7:38 P.M. MDT: Denver opens its second drive with Mike Bell lining up at fullback in front of Andre Hall. Interesting …

7:41 P.M. MDT: Very nice pass to Brian Clark on third-and-7 … and now, an excellent end-around handoff to Domenik Hixon, who made some excellent moves — and followed a block by Glenn Martinez — to get downfield and into the red zone. But some bad news on the play, as Stephen Alexander is injured back near midfield. He looked like he could barely put any weight on his right leg and was helped off the field.

7:42 P.M. MDT: The quarter ends with the Broncos set for third-and-9 at the Arizona 13.

6:07 P.M. MDT: Just now, I was handed a sheet of paper bearing the header “Gameday Roster & Lineup Changes.” Besides indicating that tackles Adam Meadows and Ryan Harris would remain sidelined, it offered one sentence that summed up the night perfectly:

“There will be numerous changes to the Denver Broncos’ starting lineups tonight.”

6:25 P.M. MDT: As the Broncos’ units go through their pre-game paces, many starters already are sans pads. Position-by-position, they include:

QUARTERBACKS: Jay Cutler, Patrick Ramsey
RUNNING BACK: Travis Henry
FULLBACK: Kyle Johnson
WIDE RECEIVERS: Brandon Marshall, Brandon Stokley, Javon Walker
OFFENSIVE LINEMEN: Ben Hamilton (who was not in uniform at practice this week), Montrae Holland, Matt Lepsis, Tom Nalen, Erik Pears
DEFENSIVE LINEMEN: Sam Adams, Elvis Dumervil, John Engelberger, Amon Gordon
LINEBACKERS: Ian Gold, Nate Webster, D.J. Williams
CORNERBACKS: Champ Bailey, Dre’ Bly, Domonique Foxworth
SAFETIES: Nick Ferguson, John Lynch

Counting Harris and Meadows, that’s 26 players who will sit out tonight.

6:31 P.M. MDT: If you visited our site last year — and we hope you did — you might remember the byline of Don Schwartz, one of our season-long interns. I’m giving him a shout-out now because of a missive from him that landed in my e-mail box just now, reminding me that this is the first Broncos-Cardinals game in their last three meetings without his presence.

Schwartz is now the community-relations coordinator for the Wayne Gretzky-owned Phoenix Coyotes, meaning that he closes each of his e-mails with the sign-off, “Have a Great One!”

You, too, have a great one, Don … and get thyself a username and password so you can post your puns here in blog-land.

6:47 P.M. MDT: Since tonight will probably see its share of irrelevant references befitting the less-than-weighty value of the game, I’m taking a food interlude to discuss tonight’s press box meal — salad, hamburgers and fried chicken. The salad was solid, but the meat on the burgers tasted a little funny; perhaps it was the fetid juice in which it lay in the steam tray. But the fried chicken … I don’t know if the caterers broke into Col. Harland Sanders’ vault and stole his vaunted recipe of 11 herbs and spices, but the stuff tasted exactly like what you get at KFC, which is not a bad thing at all.

6:48 P.M. MDT: At the insistence of season-long media-relations interns Zach Williams and Jason Taylor, I’m mentioning the fact that tonight’s game is just the second pro football game Williams has ever witnessed and the first for Taylor, who had to miss last week’s game. I have urged Taylor not to judge the NFL based on tonight’s proceedings.

6:58 P.M. MDT: National anthem time. First-quarter blog going on-line momentarily.