ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- In a place where even preseason games are dissected with some fervor, Kyle Sloter is the face who has now launched a thousand cups of coffee.

The Denver Broncos rookie quarterback is one of the biggest topics of conversation among the team's faithful. Stand in any line almost anywhere and it won't be long until you hear his name. Though it is an annual rite of the preseason for folks to love a long shot, Sloter has taken it all up a notch.

"I just love playing football," Sloter said just after he went the distance behind center in the Broncos' preseason finale Thursday night, a 30-2 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. "I feel like it's what I was put on this earth to do, and hopefully I get to do it for a long time."

Sloter was an undrafted rookie when he signed with the Broncos this year, a quarterback out of Northern Colorado -- with just nine career starts -- who had thrown all of one pass before his senior season. Most years in the NFL he would have taken some reps in practice, received some tidy mop-up duty in a couple of preseason games and waited to hear his fate from the team's decision-makers.

But the Broncos aren't most teams, in most years, at the moment. They've held quarterback competitions in back-to-back training camps, competitions Trevor Siemian has now won each time. That has put the team's quarterback play under a constant and well-worn microscope.

Sloter raised a few eyebrows early in the preseason with his unencumbered play, outside of the make-every-snap-perfect pressure Siemian and Paxton Lynch were working under. Then Lynch suffered a sprained right shoulder in the Broncos' preseason win against the Green Bay Packers and Sloter got a rare and coveted opportunity.

Since the Broncos didn't want to play Siemian, or any other starter, in Thursday night's preseason finale and Lynch was hurt, Sloter got the start and went the whole way against the Cardinals.

"Everyone comes from college, everyone tells you every day how hard the NFL is and how much the speed is different," Sloter said. "I think the most important thing for every rookie is for them to see that they can come out here and that they can compete and they can do it and they belong."

After a rough go early in Thursday's game that included being sacked for a safety, another near safety when he was sacked at the Broncos' 2-yard line and a near interception, Sloter regained his balance a bit. Despite a limited game plan, he finished 15-of-23 passing for 220 yards and a touchdown pass to tight end Steven Scheu between two Cardinals defenders.

For the preseason, Sloter was 31-of-43 passing for 413 yards, three touchdowns and an AFC-best 125.4 passer rating.

All of this carries extra weight around the Broncos because Sloter has local ties, has shown a free-wheeling edge and because Lynch's injury means they need a backup for at least the first two weeks of the regular season. Coach Vance Joseph was asked Thursday night, however, if Sloter had done enough to be that third quarterback when the roster goes to 53 players by Saturday's deadline.

"Well, we'll see," Joseph said. "... But he's played very well ... He's been impressive, he's a young, poised quarterback. He's very, very intelligent."

That isn't a yes or a no. It is a big decision for the Broncos, who will also keep their eyes on the veteran quarterbacks who hit the market. If they sign a quarterback from elsewhere, it needs to be a guy who can learn quickly, and if he had experience somewhere in Mike McCoy's offense he would fit the profile.

Sloter is certainly the people's choice, but in-house the Broncos likely would have some nervousness because of Sloter's expected difficulties on the practice field over the past two weeks running the scout-team offense against the first-team defense. The Broncos' first-team defense is a tough riddle for any quarterback, so those struggles were not a surprise, but they were substantial.

"They didn't slack off all week," Sloter said. "There were times here and there where coach wanted them to back off a little bit so we could see the ball going to the receiver's hands, but they weren't having it ... They let you know it, too, when they pick those off when they're running past you, so it was a good experience."

Now Sloter waits to see if the Broncos, who used Siemian as a rookie backup to Brock Osweiler when Peyton Manning was injured during the team's Super Bowl run in 2015, are willing to take a chance once again.

"That's not up to me. I've put my best out there -- whatever happens I can leave or stay with my head high," Sloter said. "... I felt like I was prepared and I took my lumps here and there, but for the most part, I just tried to rebound from those and come back stronger and get a little bit better each day."