The San Francisco 49ers couldn’t pull off another preseason victory against the Denver Broncos Saturday night. Niner Noise recaps what happens in our latest good, bad and ugly breakdown.
Any thoughts the San Francisco 49ers could clean up their array of mistakes from Week 1 of the preseason quickly evaporated, as the Niners hosted the Denver Broncos at Levi’s Stadium Saturday night.
Penalties were again problematic for head coach Kyle Shanahan, and San Francisco was plagued by a number of other miscues leading to Denver’s eventual 33-14 victory.
Four first-half turnovers by the 49ers led to 20 Broncos points, and the 49ers had no answer to staging a comeback.
There were, however, some things for the red and gold.
San Francisco showed some promise in pass protection and also got some notable contributions from playmakers like fullback Kyle Juszczyk and tight end George Kittle.
There was also some offensive continuity from the first-team group. And the defense, mostly, picked up where it left off versus the Kansas City Chiefs a week ago.
Still, there was more bad than good from this contest, and Niner Noise looks at it all in this slideshow.
The Good
San Francisco actually managed to engineer some promising drives early during the game, which wasn’t the case in Week 1 of the preseason versus Kansas City.
Quarterback Brian Hoyer managed to go 8-of-11 for 89 yards but was victimized by an interception off the hands of wide receiver Marquise Goodwin.
More on that later.
Goodwin ended up leading all Niners receivers with 44 yards on three receptions.
But the biggest play on offense came from tight end George Kittle, who hauled in a 29-yard catch-and-run pass for a touchdown from backup quarterback C.J. Beathard:
Plays like these should help Kittle climb the depth chart before the regular season. And wide receiver Victor Bolden Jr.’s touchdown return on a kickoff should help his chances too.
49ers Offensive Line Effective in Pass Blocking
Pass protection was a bit of a problem last week versus the Chiefs, although that wasn’t much of the case against a stout Broncos pass rush.
Over the course of the game, the Niners suffered just one sack — one taken by quarterback Brian Hoyer — and didn’t allow any quarterback hits.
For the most part, all three of San Francisco’s QBs had adequate time under center with which to work. Even though Denver wasn’t playing all of its starting front-seven players, this is certainly a good sign moving forward.
C.J. Beathard Continues to Impress
Beathard might have cemented his role as the Niners’ No. 2 quarterback, finishing the night going 7-of-12 for 110 yards and a touchdown.
His 116.7 passer rating during the game led all 49ers quarterbacks, and he might have the edge over fellow backup, Matt Barkley.
It didn’t help Barkley fumbled during his first drive.
Still, signs are pointing to Beathard emerging as the immediate backup, putting Barkley’s roster status up in the air.
The Bad
Running the ball was a key 49ers strength in Week 1 of the preseason, as the Niners finished their game in Kansas City with 188 rushing yards on 36 attempts.
This wasn’t the case versus the Broncos.
San Francisco finished the night with a mere 37 yards on 19 carries — an average of just 1.9 yards per attempt.
No. 1 running back Carlos Hyde managed just 26 yards on eight attempts. And neither of his presumed backups, Joe Williams and Matt Breida, made much better of their opportunities.
San Francisco 49ers
The Run Defense
It’s a bit unfair to label the Niners’ run defense as bad, but it’s impossible to overlook the 146 yards allowed to Denver’s ground game.
Most of these big gains came in the second half and against the majority of San Francisco’s backups and third stringers. And it wasn’t as if the 49ers offense gave the defense a good enough chance to rest.
Still, the Broncos were able to pull of long runs down the stretch, including a 20-yard touchdown run by Denver running back Juwaun Thompson in the fourth quarter.
It’s something to watch as the preseason moves along, but defensive coordinator Robert Saleh has some work to do.
Run Blocking
While the 49ers offensive line was pretty good at pass protection, this group was completely opposite in support of the run.
As noted earlier, San Francisco’s runners couldn’t get much of anything going en route to a mere 37 yards on 19 carries.
Most of this doesn’t fall on the tailbacks, though, as there were few lanes across the O-line to exploit.
In fairness to #49ers RBs, the offensive line hasn't been able to run block at all tonight. #DENvsSF
— Peter Panacy (@PeterPanacy) August 20, 2017
Remember, this was a problem for the 49ers last year. Football Outsiders ranked the Niners O-line dead last in run support in 2016, and there doesn’t appear to be too much an improvement heading into this season.
The Ugly
Penalties.
A week after the 49ers were flagged 17 times for 131 yards, head coach Kyle Shanahan’s squad was penalized a whopping 11 times for 86 yards.
This is an issue, especially those of the pre-snap variety.
Shanahan has a lot of work to do to correct these kinds of issues, which can be killers for a young team in transition.
More from Niner Noise
- 49ers 2023 NFL Draft tracker: Pick-by-pick news and analysis
- Predicting 49ers NFL Draft picks by looking at final mocks
- DraftKings NFL Draft Promo – Win $150 Guaranteed on Any $5 Bet
- 2023 NFL Draft: EDGE Byron Young could be impact player for 49ers
- 5 low-key NFL Draft options for 49ers who are flying under the radar
Turnovers
If penalties severely harm a team going through a rebuild, turnovers are absolutely disastrous.
The Niners committed a whopping five turnovers throughout the game, kicked off by a touched ball by safety Jaquiski Tartt in the first quarter — one that seemingly set the tone for the game thereafter.
Oh, and Denver scored points off each turnover.
It also didn’t help San Francisco’s time-of-possession battle. The Broncos nearly doubled the 49ers in this category, 38:35 to 21:25, meaning the Niners defense was overly exposed later in the game.
Ball security will have to be a major focal point for San Francisco as they gear up for Week 3 of the preaseason.
Next: Broncos vs. 49ers: Live scoring updates and analysis
The 49ers visit the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, August 27 at 8 p.m. ET.