Broncos Vs. 49ers Preseason Week 3 Game Night Thread

[58Miller]

Broncos and Niners practiced against each other a couple of days and then played a scrimmage/game against each other in which the calls were grab bag from a vanilla playbook. This Saturday's game should be more indicative depending on how many projected starters are held out.

Good point Sam ( as usual), I see it the same way, just preseason reps and nothing to read to much into.

[fraguela09]

These games aren't being called for impact plays. The sideline pass and snag by Hamilton was a thing of beauty though. If that were a regular season game that would have likely been challenged. There were a couple more nice throws that were to spots and I was surprised to see how well Sanders moved.

I would like to see more from Fant as well but this kid is young. His size and speed are there, I have faith he can learn how to get open. He suffered an ankle injury before we could see a whole lot, but even on that long 3rd down he made a nice catch, made that first LB miss.....exactly what we hope to get out of the position. It was nice to see that option on 3rd and long to be honest with you.

We can only hope play-calling and scheme will make the difference come regular season... but, still, why are we holding back in our third warmup?

I do have faith in this team, if they remain relatively healthy... but depth is a major concern as is consistency (with all the youth on offense).

Sutton did have 2/28 and DH did have that nice sideline grab and Fant was open in RZ (Flacco bad throw). We hope to “see it” come OAK on MNF.

[rst08tierney]

I don't care about impact play calling, I care about the simple fundamentals of football. This team lacks the ability to perform the basics deep in the depth chart.

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Reading Blocks

I'm very hesitant to give this team anything more then a 5 win season. Any number of injuries to our starters on offense it's over and the #1 or #2 pick will be in our future.

[JW7]

I don't care about impact play calling, I care about the simple fundamentals of football. This team lacks the ability to perform the basics deep in the depth chart.

Catching
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Reading Blocks

I'm very hesitant to give this team anything more then a 5 win season. Any number of injuries to our starters on offense it's over and the #1 or #2 pick will be in our future.

Did you not see how the 1st team defense performed? No way a team with that much talent on that side of the ball and arguably the best defensive coach in the league end up with the 1st pick in the draft. Especially with how hard it is to play in Denver.

I know some people see the glass half empty but your glass is bone dry.

[Rastic]

I don't care about impact play calling, I care about the simple fundamentals of football. This team lacks the ability to perform the basics deep in the depth chart.

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Reading Blocks

I'm very hesitant to give this team anything more then a 5 win season. Any number of injuries to our starters on offense it's over and the #1 or #2 pick will be in our future.

There a numerous teams that can say the same thing. But don't judge what will be the final 53 by the current roster and those that are just camp fodder trying to catch a break. There are issues for sure but not nearly as bad as going by an a second-string or third-string group of players.

A point of caution though is that SF was without numerous starters on their defensive line. Yet, having said that, teams aren't really scouting each other or watching file right now in preseason like they would for a regular season game and that will make a big difference. Coaches are installing their offense and defense trying to determine who is on the roster. As for the offense I believe we've switched from a more power scheme to a zone that Scangarello utilizes - this is a big change for the OL and one that will take time to develop - just hopefully not too much time to where the season is long gone.

A happy note is that Flacco did not have one 3-and-out. That's already an improvement over the last two years

[58Miller]

Did you not see how the 1st team defense performed? No way a team with that much talent on that side of the ball and arguably the best defensive coach in the league end up with the 1st pick in the draft. Especially with how hard it is to play in Denver.

I know some people see the glass half empty but your glass is bone dry.

Defense did look good and that was without our best run stuffer in Todd Davis and Swiss Army knife Kareem Jackson.

[fraguela09]

Defense is fine and will be our strength all season, but we face 13 different QBs this season and 10 of them have appeared in a Pro Bowl. We won’t win most games struggling to score 17-23 points.

The offense is gonna have to produce and do their part: not turn ball over and capitalize on RZ appearances.

I think Flacco will be a fine game manager, and I think if healthy the skills guys will deliver. The OL is always a concern.... I just don’t see a lot of fight in guys other than Sanders, Lindsey, and Risner.

This offense will be as good as Bolles/Sutton/Fant/Hamilton are. We need these 4 to step up.

[Rastic]

Garoppolo had a 0.0 rating Chubb and Harris ate it.

[MileHigh Salute]

All in all it was a mediocre home opening. Here was my fast take on the situation

1. Flacco - I thought he looked really good. The ability to manufacture the first down to Hamilton on 3rd with pressure was great. He had that great deep ball to sanders which Bolles negated, but that was very promising a well. I think he could have a very productive year if the offensive line helps him.

2. Defense: Harris at NG looked damn good. He moves like a much smaller player than he is which is a awesome. Chubb was hella disruptive. I thought Carter at MLB was a match-up advantage especially in coverage.

3. Bolles - his lazy feet cost us as a team. His inability to move his feet to position himself causes him to hold. Dude needs to move his feet with some urgency

4. Running game - wow, uninspiring. The lack of anything meaningful was apparent.

5. Special Teams - Please find me a new Trenton Holliday PLEASE!!!!!

[orange crush75]

Yeah I agree . Flacco looked good , run game looked pathetic, Bolles isnt a LT and our special teams are garbage. Lock looks pretty dang good imo. Hes made progress every week. He is showing he has what it takes. One thing is certain, we have no depth . We really need to be able to pound the ball and that will help in the red zone.

Oh sorry , our Def is awesome . Lovin that!

[Fantaztic7]

I’m just being realistic, the guy is our LT. Going on and on about how we shoulda drafted a different guy doesn’t change that. I’m not as worried about him as i am with our oline depth and ilb positions right now.

We’ll see how he plays through the first 3-4 games. If he applies Munchak’s coaching and penalties are the exception, he’ll probably be fine. If not it will be time to either move him to guard or depth.

[beastlyskronk]

3. Bolles - his lazy feet cost us as a team. His inability to move his feet to position himself causes him to hold. Dude needs to move his feet with some urgency

I disagree that it’s his feet that are the problem. Bolles is doing this strange upper cut thing for a punch and he cocks his arms back when doing so. So not only is it a slow punch that never hits first, his balance is thrown off when he does it which causes him to get moved around.

I don’t recall seeing this from him last season and I have to wonder if this was something he wanted to try against players with longer arms to counter their reach. But if he wants that to be effective he has to aim for their arms and quickly work his hands into the chest and not immediately go for their stomach/chest and hang on for dear life like last night. Even then, as I said about Malik Reed doing this same thing on defense against longer OTs, this isn’t something you can do consistently and have success with. It’s a very risky move that relies on timing and reacting quicker than the edge rusher can shoot his hands into you.

[rst08tierney]

I disagree that it’s his feet that are the problem. Bolles is doing this strange upper cut thing for a punch and he cocks his arms back when doing so. So not only is it a slow punch that never hits first, his balance is thrown off when he does it which causes him to get moved around.

I don’t recall seeing this from him last season and I have to wonder if this was something he wanted to try against players with longer arms to counter their reach. But if he wants that to be effective he has to aim for their arms and quickly work his hands into the chest and not immediately go for their stomach/chest and hang on for dear life like last night. Even then, as I said about Malik Reed doing this same thing on defense against longer OTs, this isn’t something you can do consistently and have success with. It’s a very risky move that relies on timing and reacting quicker than the edge rusher can shoot his hands into you.

You saw this, I saw it.....his coaches had to have seen it. Why are they trying to change his technique?

Hes obviously not a disciplined player which makes me highly question his football IQ which brings me back to WHY did we draft a guy who scored a 9 on the Wonderlic?!?!?!?!?!

[beastlyskronk]

You saw this, I saw it.....his coaches had to have seen it. Why are they trying to change his technique?

Hes obviously not a disciplined player which makes me highly question his football IQ which brings me back to WHY did we draft a guy who scored a 9 on the Wonderlic?!?!?!?!?!

Hopefully they’re just experimenting with some things for certain guys. But yeah Bolles mental/emotional maturity seem to be behind the curve for his age. He seems like a prototypical high school jock in many respects.

But he played well down the stretch last season and I do expect him to ultimately be solid this season, probably a bit high on the penalties though. But no matter how well he plays, any mistake is going to be scrutinized to the extreme. To put it into context, Staley was abused last night much worse than Bolles, but he’s one of the best in the NFL so I doubt anyone in San Fran is worried about him. Reputation means a lot and Bolles doesn’t have a good reputation right now.

[Butler By'Note]

I don't care about impact play calling, I care about the simple fundamentals of football. This team lacks the ability to perform the basics deep in the depth chart.

Catching
Tackling
Reading Blocks

I'm very hesitant to give this team anything more then a 5 win season. Any number of injuries to our starters on offense it's over and the #1 or #2 pick will be in our future.

That's a scalding hot take. But I have to disagree with most of it. I would also questions who cares about the players abilities deep on the depth chart? Players 54-90 will be cut on Aug 31st. Whether they can do your basics or not they will be unemployed. And the good news is that players 54-90 on every roster will be cut, so if you feel like some other team's 56th player does something better than your 52nd player, you can release them and sign the other player.

Depth is the most overblown thing in the preseason. People get all upset because the third string is getting hammered by someone else's third string. But most of those players will be out of the league, and you're never going to have mass substitutions like that. The depth that matters is whether your 5th corner can come in and play well with 3-4 starting DBs when called upon? Can your 6th o-lineman step in without a noticeable drop-off if one of your starters is injured? That's depth, not how an entire unit of guys who will be unemployed in 11 days perform together.