5 takeaways from Broncos' 14-10 victory in Hall of Fame Game

Despite it being a meaningless preseason game, the Denver Broncos were a part of history on Thursday evening, officially opening the 100th NFL season as they faced off against the Atlanta Falcons in the annual Hall of Fame Game.

While this weekend is primarily dedicated towards the induction of the new Hall of Fame class, the game serves as a small taste to what may come in the upcoming NFL season.

The Broncos were able to pull out a 14-10 comeback victory, despite issues on offense throughout the middle-third of the contest. After a quick scoring drive in the first quarter, the Broncos' offense failed to gain traction in any facet against the Falcons defense, while the Broncos' defense showed some glaring holes in the middle of their secondary, allowing the Falcons to jump out to a 10-7 lead in the second half.

A late touchdown drive led by undrafted rookie QB Brett Rypien provided the difference in the ceremonial scrimmage, culminated by an amazing tip-drill touchdown reception by sixth-round rookie WR Juwann Winfree.

There weren’t a lot of concrete developments expected to come out of a game featuring players hoping to survive past the first round of cuts here in a month's time, but we did get to see some of the Broncos' future in action for the first time. What did we learn? Let's get to it.

Drew Lock off to a shaky start

After trading up in the second round of the 2019 draft, the Broncos effectively chose Lock to be the quarterback of the future. He arrived at Dove Valley with an overconfidence in his cannon-like arm and shoddy footwork, which caused him to be inaccurate at times in college.

Working with his personal QB coach Jesse Palmer has led to some positive reviews coming out of training camp, but there were some issues when the bullets started flying.

Lock was hyped up early in his NFL debut, and his extreme arm strength was on display in a bad way. He overshot a few of his deep balls down the sideline by a large margin, including an overthrow to first-round TE Noah Fant on his first attempt of the evening.

Lock's footwork? Not exactly great at times.

Lock finished his evening 7-of-11 for 34 yards with a passer rating of 68.0 in just over two quarters of gameplay. Here’s to hoping he can settle in here soon.

Dalton Risner the beast

In Thursday's GAMEDAY Open Thread thread, it was pointed out several times that second-round rookie LG Dalton Risner was showing exactly what he did on tape during his time at Kansas State; a bruising mauler in the running game.

Our own Carl Dumler stated that he had seen Risner riding his man 3-to-4 yards downfield on the Broncos' first-quarter scoring drive. The rookie also stood his ground very well in pass protection in his limited snaps on the evening.

The Broncos have had some extreme struggles protecting the passer over the past couple of seasons. The early selection of Risner was intended to help solve those struggles. If tonight’s performance was any indication of future results, the selection was worth its weight in gold.

Defense showing holes in zone coverage

When Vic Fangio was brought in to become the Broncos' new head coach, his infamous defensive scheme came with him. Fangio has had immense success in the past using a zone-heavy concept relying on his linebackers and safeties in pass coverage at the second level.

While the play calling was mostly vanilla as far as the scheme is concerned, the players on the field struggled to maintain their assignments in coverage for the majority of the second and third quarters. Falcons third-string QB Kurt Benkert was able to shred the Broncos' zone coverage until he departed the contest with a foot injury in the fourth quarter, completing 19-of-34 pass attempts for 185 yards and a touchdown.

It’s still early in camp and none of the projected starters in the secondary saw action during this time, but it is still worth noting.

Khalfani Muhammad shows out in the RB competition

With Phillip Lindsay, Royce Freeman, and Devontae Booker not seeing action in tonight’s contest, the workload at running back was handed down to Muhammad, David Williams and undrafted rookie Devontae Jackson.

Muhammed was the most noteworthy of the three, scoring a rushing touchdown on the offense's second possession of the night, as well as toting the rock on an explosive 31-yard run off the right corner in the second half.

While Muhammad faces long odds to make the roster with the impending acquisition of former Detroit Lions third-down back Theo Riddick, he does stand a quality chance at landing a spot on the Broncos practice squad. If Muahammad can continue his momentum from Thursday night over the next four preseason games, his chances are pretty strong of sticking in Denver.

Dropped passes continue to show their ugly face

In all honesty, Kevin Hogan looked like the best Broncos' QB on the field on Thursday night. Had it not been for three dropped passes, Hogan might have had a perfect outing against the Falcons in the statistical vein.

Rookies Noah Fant and Juwann Winfree both had easy Hogan passes hit their hands only to fall to the turf. Winfree’s drop came on a third-down pass that could have extended the Broncos’ opening drive of the game.

It’s been an ugly trend thus far in Broncos training camp, and it’s becoming a serious issue, one that Vic Fangio is seething about.

“Guys have to be able to catch.” Fangio said following one of last week’s training camp practices. “When the ball’s catchable they have to be able to catch. Everybody wants to know how fast receivers run, how quick they are—our tight ends, our backs. I want to know can they catch first before you tell me all that, and these guys have got to start catching better.”

Follow Lance on Twitter @SandersonMHH.