The Denver Broncos eventually fell to the 49ers on Monday night 24-15 after the 49ers outscored the Broncos 21-6 in the second half.
The starters looked great and they carried a 9-3 lead into halftime, but the rest of the depth chart couldn’t hold off the 49ers in the second half. Drew Lock and Noah Fant both left the game early with injuries. Lock hurt his thumb on his throwing hand and Fant hurt his ankle on a hit he absorbed to his lower legs.
The overarching theme that was obvious in this game was that the starting defense has some serious talent and is going to be a real problem for opposing offenses this year.
Jimmy Garappolo had a 0.0 QBR and finished with a stat line of 1/6 for 0 yards and an interception in one quarter of play, he’s lucky he did not have two interceptions, one for a touchdown that Bausby dropped. The Bronco’s running game looked stagnant even with Dee Ford and Nick Bosa not playing.
The Broncos red zone offense, for the second straight game, results in field goals instead of touchdowns. Garrett Bolles seemed to be mismatched against the second string defensive line for the 49ers, and again had a holding penalty that wiped out the biggest play of the night.
Emmanuel Sanders looks primed and ready for a huge season coming off an Achilles surgery. The offensive line depth is not there, as the backup QBs were sacked six times for 37 yards. Shelby Harris and Bradley Chubb are both freakishly athletic and are going to set this Broncos defense over the top.
Game Notes:
- Opening kickoff was a touchback from Brandon McManus, which did not give the kick coverage a chance to work on a pretty big weakness.
- Shelby Harris bats down a ball at the line of scrimmage.
- Bradley Chubb gets immense pressure forcing Jimmy Garappolo to throw an interception to Isaac Yaidom.
- Emmanuel Sanders played and got a catch on the first offensive play.
- Second play Garrett Bolles got blown up and the defensive end disrupted the run play to Phillip Lindsay.
- Joe Flacco uses his legs to keep the play alive and finds DaeSean Hamilton for a first down.
- Emmanuel Sanders gets a jet sweep for 19 yards. Looks limber and fresh.
- Brandon McManus hits a 31 yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.
- Second kickoff coverage was bad after no touchback, 50-yard return.
- Shelby Harris got another pass batted down.
- Devante Bausby should have caught a pick six, but dropped the ball after a perfect break.
- Starting Defense looks good. Teams are going to pay for doubling Von Miller this season big time. Chubb is made Pro Bowler Joe Staley look silly.
- Courtland Sutton back to back big catches on a screen and beating the zone coverage.
- Shelby Harris runs down a flare route to a running back on a diving tackle for no gain, shows his speed and athleticism.
- Garrett Bolles holding call wipes out a 45 yard deep pass to Emmanuel Sanders.
- Garappolo ends the first quarter (and his outing) with a stat line: 0/6 0 yards and an interception.
- Bradley Chubb gets a strip sack. Recovered by the offense.
- Drew Lock leads a scoring drive in his first drive with other starters on the field, second QB on the field.
- Brandon McManus hits a 33-yard FG.
- Lock leads another scoring drive from the 25 yard line with 2:30 left in the half Broncos lead 9-3 at half.
- Lock bangs his thumb against the ground on the first series of the second half and continually grasped at it afterwards. Would eventually be replaced early by Hogan.
- Bronco’s third and fourth string defense really seems to lack a lot of talent. Missed tackles, blown coverage, poor reads.
- Lock went to the trainer’s room with a thumb injury. Fant also called it a day early because of an ankle injury.
- Kevin Hogan comes in for injured Drew Lock as third string quarterback.
- Juwann Winfree seems to keep having an impact play each game, couple big catches back to back.
- Dekoda Watson had a great second half with a two sacks (one on a muffed snap counted as a tackle for loss) and multiple veteran reads making plays and getting pressures.
- David William’s misses an easy catch in the flat popping up for an interception at the 10-yard line.
- 21 points scored in the second half by the 49ers, too many explosive plays. 24-9 SF
- Bronco’s Defensive tackle Deshawn Williams gets a fumble recovery at the 24 yard line.
- Kevin Hogan scrambles for a 24 yard touchdown run the next play! Failed 2pt conversion 15-24 SF with 2:15 left
- Defense holds up and gets the ball back for the offense, but offense can’t move the ball and the game ends at 15-24 San Francisco.
The Bronco’s next preseason game is Saturday, August 24 at 7:00 pm mountain time, against the Los Angeles Rams.
This game will probably be the starter’s last game of the preseason, as the fourth game is typically to get film of the depth players and round out the depth chart.
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I don’t understand very much of anything about football but I love the way you write.
Thank you Rita! I appreciate you reading and enjoying!