49ers vs. Chiefs: The good, bad and ugly from NFL preseason, Week 1
By Peter Panacy
The Ugly
Despite the outcome, the Niners played in one of the uglier games seen around the NFL this preseason.
Two aspects from this effort stand out — penalties and the offensive line.
Penalties
Preseason games are typically raw and rough, so it shouldn’t be too much a surprise to see teams committing a lot of penalties early on.
Especially as fringe players battle to make the 53-man roster.
Yet a total of 17 accepted penalties for 131 yards is bad. There’s no other way around it. And the Niners could have generated two touchdowns, had it not been for some of those flags.
Kyle Shanahan coming off the field mentioned penalties being something that they want to clean up after 2 TDs were nullified. #49ers
— 49ers Webzone (@49erswebzone) August 12, 2017
It’s likely the 49ers will clean some of that up between now and the regular season, but it’s an early issue that revealed itself during a crucial phase in this team’s rebuild.
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The Offensive Line
The 49ers elected to go with center Daniel Kilgore over Jeremy Zuttah, who was released by San Francisco earlier this week.
Kilgore had something of a makeshift offensive line around him — a theme that persisted throughout the game, as the Niners attempted to give reps to multiple players at various positions.
Still, the O-line was a major issue for the 49ers.
Kansas City managed just three sacks during the game but did have seven quarterback hits. Even more frustrating, a sizable chunk of the Niners’ inside running plays were blown up at the line of scrimmage.
Losing second-year guard Joshua Garnett (knee) for the foreseeable future doesn’t help. Yet the 49ers will have to make their adjustments and hope whatever unit holds up well enough.
Although it wouldn’t be a surprise to see general manager John Lynch bring in some reinforcements here when NFL cuts are made just before the regular season.
Next: 5 biggest storylines for the 49ers this preseason
But the Niners are off to a good start, and at least there are some pieces in place to be excited about this upcoming season.