This is the live blog for the 49ers 2023 preseason home opener against the Denver Broncos at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. I will provide updates and analysis throughout the game.
4:15 Here is what to look for in tonight’s game.
5:05 All signs point to Brock Purdy making the start tonight. The quarterback went through pregame warmups along with most of the 49ers offensive starters. George Kittle, Trent Williams and Christian McCaffrey will not play.
Fred Warner and the 49ers staring defense look ready to play tonight as well. Broncos head coach Sean Payton is expected to play his starters for about 25 snaps tonight.
5:33 Broncos won the toss and deferred. Brock Purdy and the 49ers offense will get the ball first.
5:44 Brock Purdy looks like the guy who led the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game last year. The quarterback hits four of his first five attempts for 65 yards but the drive stalls deep in Broncos territory when Ty Davis-Price whiffs on a pass block resulting in a sack.
Jake Moody makes the field goal, his first after missing two in Las Vegas.
5:47 Rookie JiAyir Brown making the start tonight in place of Tashaun Gipson at safety.
5:49 The 49ers defensive front parts like the Red Sea and Russell Wilson takes off up the middle for a gain of 17. We’ve seen this story before.
5:55 San Francisco defense holds. Good coverage by Ambry Thomas on a deep shot from Wilson to Jerry Jeudy results in an incompletion.
Brett Maher comes on and connects from 48 yards out. Game is tied at three.
6:01 Sam Darnold replaces Purdy and it’s a quick three and out.
Playing behind the 49ers starting offensive line, Darnold gets the ball out quick to Jordan Mason to beat a blitz on second down. On third and five he throws incomplete to Ronnie Bell. The rookie wideout was well covered on a curl to the left side.
The 49ers offensive line has not been able to generate any push in the run game in the first two series.
6:10 Isaiah Oliver with a shot to end the Broncos drive on third down, but the free agent acquisition misses the tackle. Oliver’s spot on the 49ers roster is starting to look shaky.
6:13 Following the Oliver miss, T.Y. McGill gets to Jarrett Stidham for a sack. A nice play by JiAyir Brown to force a screen back inside leads to third down and the Broncos cannot convert. Maher hits his second field goal to give Denver a three point lead.
McGill is playing with the second unit alongside Kevin Givens. No sign of Javon Kinlaw, he missed practice on Thursday and is not dressed tonight.
6:24 Jason Poe and Jon Feliciano get called for holding on the 49ers second drive with Sam Darnold. The hold by Feliciano wiped out a completion from Darnold to Jennings over the middle to beat a Broncos blitz. The drive ends when Josey Jewell comes unblocked off the left side and drops the quarterback for a sack.
6:28 Clelin Ferrell and Austin Bryant get good pressure on Jarrett Stidham. The pressure forces Stidham into the pocket where Marlon Davidson collects the sack. Ferrell has looked explosive off the edge a couple times tonight.
Taylor Hawkins with a nice open field tackle to stop a screen set up the passing situation.
6:42 It looked like Sam Darnold could have set his feet and throw on third and 14, instead he takes off up the middle and is dropped well short.
6:46 Isaiah Oliver playing the entire first half is not a good sign.
On the final play of the half, a busted coverage by Ambry Thomas leads to a 50 yard pass down the left sideline, but the receiver is dropped at the one and Denver is unable to get a snap off to stop the clock.
7:05 Rookie wideout Ronnie Bell looking good tonight in the return game. He had a 25 yard kickoff return in the first half and just returned a punt 28 yards to set the offense up at the 35. Sam Darnold remains in at quarterback.
7:09 No more saying nice things about Bell. Sam Darnold’s third down pass hits him in the hands but the ball bounces out and into the hands of Broncos cornerback Essang Bassey for an interception.
7:18 T.Y. McGill with the hit on Stidham resulting in a near interception for linebacker Marcelino McCrary-Ball. McGill is having himself a nice game.
7:26 Sam Darnold gives San Francisco the lead with a 10-yard touchdown throw to Jack Colletto.
The drive opened with a completion to rookie tight end Cameron Latu for a gain of eight. This was big considering Latu has struggled to hold on to the ball during camp.
Ronnie Bell also had a 21-yard reception over the middle. Nice bounce back for Bell after he let the previous target go through his hands leading to an interception.
Jake Moody misses the PAT. That is now three misses for the rookie kicker.
7:33 Tre Swilling with tight coverage leading to an incompletion on third down. Undrafted rookie free agent D’Shawn Jamison muffs the punt and Denver recovers deep in 49ers territory. Myles Hartsfield then misses a tackle in the open field and Jaleel McLaughlin takes it into the endzone. Denver now leads 13-9.
7:45 Trey Lance comes on for the fourth quarter. After completions to Tay Martin and Jeremy McNichols, his attempted screen pass to McNichols is batted into the air and intercepted by a Denver defensive lineman. The play is under review.
7:47 The interception stands. Denver ball at the 49ers 45.
7:50 Dee Winters comes up with a big play on fourth down to get the ball back for Trey Lance. The rookie linebacker chased down quarterback Ben DiNucci and dropped him for a gain of just one on fourth and three.
8:01 Lance gets the 49ers down to the Broncos 23, where a hold by Nick Zackelj on first down backs the offense up. After a pair of misses, Lance connects with Ronnie Bell on a slant for eight yards and Jake Moody hits the field goal from 43-yards out.
Lance caught a break on one throw over the middle. The Denver linebacker read the quarterback and was in position for an interception but the pass sailed high.
8:15 Lance gets into a rhythm hitting six in a row including a 22-yard touchdown to Cameron Latu up the right seam. On his last four throws Lance hit his back foot and let the ball rip.
8:30 After a quick stop, Lance gets a shot at a two minute drill. On the third play of the possession he rips a throw over the middle to Ronnie Bell and the rookie takes it for a gain of 43.
Jake Moody comes on and hits from 32-yards out to give the 49ers a 21-20 victory.
Be back soon with my recap.
It seems that in the handful of starts Trey Lance is a slow starter. His best play is in the second half.
I say ‘seems’ because I’m not going on stats. Mainly by whether the play looks instinctive and natural. Like he belongs on an NFL field. It’s only a small sampling of NFL starts. So nothing is conclusive.
Trey is worth much more than a 3rd or later given the injury rates to starters and the Super Bowl window.
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Purdy looked good. TDP is our #4 RB he doesn’t know how to pick up the bltz
Once again the backup DTs look crappy
Listening on radio.
Eric Branch “Have not seen 49ers DT Javon Kinlaw on sideline. Kinlaw missed Thursday’s practice.”
Have you seen Kinlaw?
I haven’t noticed him
That’s too bad, re Kinlaw. After getting blown off the LOS last week, I was hoping he could show better today. Well, scratch that.
I asked over at NN about Kinlaw. They said he’s out with an illness and actually missed some practice this past week.
Starting O looked good If TDP picks up the blitz they likely score a TD on that play.
Starting D looked OK
Darnold looked very good
Backup O line looked terrible once again
Backup D looked OK other than the DTs versus the up the middle runs
Wishnowski looked hurt
Jake Moody, star 3rd round pick. He better get his act together or the boos will be merciless. There will be no tolerance for this garbage.
Now for clown ball on the punt return. Lots of work for the special teams in the next three weeks.
I’ll give Moody a pass on that one since he doesn’t yet understand how to handle the wind at Levis. Apparantly, Robbie had a PhD in that. But you’re right, the rest of the special teams has just been awful.
I would give Moody more of a pass if that was the only miss. But 3 of 4 kicks have missed and he follows the miss with a dreadful kickoff. He got lucky in that the kickoff was so bad the returner had trouble getting up to get it. He needs to call Gould and have a good long talk, tomorrow!
Like the announcers said, it would be great if the D could stop the Broncos and the O put Moody in a position to win the game; so we can see if he’s got it.
Good for Moody. Perhaps the Niners should let him practice in the stadium, during game times. They finish practice before any game would ever start, so he has no practice under game time conditions. Couldn’t hurt.
As much as I like Purdy, I would like to see Lance play with the one’s and see what he can really do.
It seems like when we talk about Lance playing well, it’s always after 3 or 4 possessions. That’s not gonna cut it in the NFL.
Lance definitely had some early issues, and the Int was inexcusable. But, I give Lance kudos because he shook off the turnover and moved the team into position to win the game at the end of the 4th.
Nice comeback win tonight.
Ronnie Bell is a keeper and if he hadn’t yet cemented a roster spot, he did tonight.
Moody, is still shaky and his countenance on the sidelines does not exude confidence.
I believe the 49ers keep Zane Gonzales on the roster as a precaution, until Moody can be trusted.
2 kickers on the roster? I don’t think so. They’ve made their bet already and it’s Moody.
Yes, how would Purdy look with the third string. Oh, wait! Last year he played preseason games with the third string and most people were uninspired by what they saw. If Lance got to actually play with the first string OL, CMC, Kittle, Deebo and Aiyuk it might make a real difference.
On the other hand, what does it take for Lance to come out from the first snap and be ready to play well? Every single game he starts badly and takes at least 10-12 snaps before he wakes up and is ready to play. Getting 5-7 snaps in practice is a real detriment to him.
Maybe you weren’t impressed last year, but from what I’ve read, coaches and players were impressed with Purdy from the beginning of OTA’s last year. Why else would they cut the guy who was designated as the backup whom they signed for 2 M. Trey has had chances and has played in real games with the ones and so far it hasn’t been great. No doubt a lot of reps would help him regardless if it’s with the 1’s,2’s or 3’s, but it’s not going to happen while Purdy is the starter.
Right now, the best I see for Lance is a path similar to Geno Smith. It’ll be a while (partly because he probably won’t have opportunities this year to play in games), but he has the potential in several years to be quite good. But it won’t be with the 9ers.
I think Lance can become a good to very good QB but not with the 9ers. He needs to go to a team that is not a playoff team where he can play 1 or 2 seasons to develop. Unless both Purdy and Darnold experience long term injuries he will never get the time to develop with the 49ers.