Cardinals vs. Broncos 2015 live stream: Time, TV schedule and how to watch online

Chris Johnson finally makes his Cardinals debut, as Arizona looks to build enough offensive depth to avoid a repeat of the final couple weeks of last season.

by Alex Reimer

Sep 3, 2015, 3:31 PM UTC

Frederick Breedon/Getty Images

The Cardinals' season was sunk last year after Carson Palmer and Andre Ellington went down with injuries. Arizona put forth a putrid offensive performance in their first-round loss to the Panthers last January, only gaining 78 yards and turning the ball over on three occasions. That's why this preseason, the Cardinals are trying to safeguard themselves from falling into that situation again.

Arizona signed veteran running back Chris Johnson to a one-year deal earlier this month. After missing the last two games with an injury, Johnson will finally take the field Thursday night in Denver. ESPN's Josh Weinfuss reports Johnson will receive up to a dozen carries Thursday night.

The Cardinals' starters struggled in the team's 30-23 win over the Raiders last week, as Carson Palmer had a particularly lousy showing. He only completed 8 of 23 passes, threw two interceptions and was sacked twice.

While Palmer sits, third- and fourth-string quarterbacks Phillip Sims and Logan Thomas will play for the Cardinals in Denver Thursday. Usually the performance of the third-string quarterback is inconsequential, but as the Cardinals demonstrated last year, anything is possible in the NFL. Given Palmer's injury history, it's not far-fetched to believe that Sims or Thomas could play meaningless snaps at some point in the regular season or -- gasp -- the playoffs.

It's unlikely Brock Osweiler will take a meaningful snap for the Broncos this season, which is why this is probably the biggest game he'll play in all year. Osweiler is a free agent at the end of the season, and has one final chance to impress clubs who may look at him next spring.

It’s been a solid preseason for Osweiler, who has completed 66 percent of his passes and thrown two touchdown passes in three games. His quarterback rating is 87.9.

Though most of the Broncos' first-stringers won't be on the field with Osweiler, a number of players fighting for roster spots should be. Denver has a crowded backfield, as Montee Ball and Kapri Bibbs are fighting for spots behind C.J. Anderson, Ronnie Hillman and Juwan Thompson. Earlier this week, Ball said he was "surprised" he didn't get many touches in the Broncos' third preseason game, per the Denver Post.

Denver ran the ball quite a bit in the second half of last season as Peyton Manning's performance declined. Manning threw four touchdown passes, six interceptions and averaged a 79.98 quarterback rating over the final five games of 2014. His performance especially fell off after he suffered a quad injury against the Chargers in Week 15, as he threw four interceptions the following Monday night when Denver lost to the Bengals. The Broncos threw 194 passes and ran the ball 186 times in their final six contests.

Manning told Sports Illustrated’s Peter King he hasn’t had feeling in his right fingertips throughout his entire tenure in Denver. Knowing that, one has to wonder whether Manning’s poor play down the stretch was last season was just an aberration or a harbinger of things to come. He’s been mediocre this preseason, completing 63 percent of his passes without throwing a touchdown pass. Manning has been intercepted twice and taken six sacks.