SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 19: Russell Wilson #3 of the Denver Broncos warms up before playing the San Francisco 49ers in a preseason game at Levi's Stadium on August 19, 2023 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Loren Elliott/Getty Images)
The Denver Broncos entered the game 0-1 after losing to the Cardinals last week were hoping to bounce back against the 49ers but came up short at the buzzer. Below is the recap.
Broncos won the coin toss and deferred to the 2nd half.
The 49ers offense took the field to start the game with QB Brock Purdy leading them for the first drive, starting at their own 29 yard line. Purdy, who has been out since the NFC Championship game with an arm injury, wasted no time with big chunk completions to Deebo Samuel, Jauan Jennings and Brandon Aiyuk. Though the Broncos defense seemed to be on their heals early, they came up with key plays when they needed to including a big sack by Jonathon Cooper to help stall the drive. The 49ers settled for 20 yard field goal and took an early 3-0 lead.
The Broncos offense started their first drive of the night at their own 21 yard line. Javonte Williams made his presence known early, accounting for the first 3 plays of the Broncos drive. Russell Wilson looked fast as he scrambled 4 times on the drive, even though one was called back due to a Courtland Sutton hold, and put up 25 yards as they quickly moved down the field into 49ers territory. Unfortunately, the drive stalled at the 49ers 30 yard line so the Broncos settled for a 48 yard FG to tie the game at 3.
Sam Darnold replaced Brock Purdy at QB and subsequently went 3-and-out that included a great pass break up by Damarri Mathis.
Jarrett Stidham replaced Russell Wilson for the Broncos 2nd offensive drive that started at their own 31, following at 30 yard punt. The power run game was prevelant on the 2nd drive as Javonte Williams and Samaje Perine combined for a downhill rushing attack. Add in an impressive 18 yard catch and run by Greg Dulcich, the offense was on the move again. Once again, though, a promising drive stalled and the Broncos, after an 11 play drive, settled for a 34 yard field goal to take a 6-3 lead.
The 49ers began their 3rd offensive drive at their own 25 yard line but were plagued by penalties. Difficult to find much rhythm constantly playing from behind the sticks but even more so when you don't block Jonathon Cooper as he came free to sack Darnold and end the 49ers drive at their own 33 yard line.
The Broncos offense couldn't do much with their next drive as Stidham and co. went three and out following a sack by Davidson on 3rd down. Riley Dixon got all of a 65 yard punt, giving the 49ers starting field position at their own 20 yard line.
The 49ers started their 4th drive of the game with 4:07 remaining in the 2nd quarter. After getting an early 1st down, Darnold couldn't gain much momentum as Zach Allen was able to sack the 49ers QB and effectively ended the drive.
Denver's offense got one final crack to extend their lead with 90 seconds remaining in the 1st half. After a couple of quick completions to Lil'Jordon Humphrey to get the Broncos to midfield, Stidham hit Jalen Virgil who took the ball 50 yards down to the goal line but as the offense rushed down the field to spike the ball, the clock expired and Denver came up empty. Jalen Virgil had to be helped off the field.
The Broncos offense took the field for the 2nd half but struggled to move the ball ending their brief appearance with a 3-and-out.
On the 49ers 5th offensive drive, Essang Bassey was in the right place at the right time for the 2nd straight game and came up with an easy interception, setting the Broncos offense up at their own 46 yard line.
Stidham and the Broncos offense moved the ball all the way down to the San Francisco 37 yard line but once again, penalties had a massive impact on the drive as there were two holding and one too many men in the huddle penalties that Denver couldn't overcome.
The 49ers, set up at their own 37 yard line, finally strung together the best drive of the night as Sam Darnold moved the ball down the field, capping off the drive with a 11 yard touchdown pass to Jack Colletto. The 49ers missed the extra point but regained the lead 9-6.
Ben DiNucci took over at QB but unforunately, the Broncos still couldn't get out of their own way with a back breaking hold by Kendall Hinton that started the drive from behind the sticks. Jaleel McLaughlin had a brilliant 17 yard run but the drive still ended in a punt.
Special Teams bailed out the Broncos as Fabian Moreau was able to recover a muffed punt and, with the ball set up at the 49ers 8 yard line, McLaughlin made a smooth cut to avoid a tackler at the 5 yard line and scampered into the end zone for a touchdown. Broncos retake the lead 13-9.
With 1:22 remaining in the 3rd quarter, Trey Lance takes over at QB. The 49ers offense started to gather momentum until Matt Henningson batted a screen pass up in the air and Elijah Garcia, who had 2 sacks last week vs the Cardinals, came up with the interception at the San Francisco 45 yard line.
Broncos had an opportunity to put some distance between themselves and their opponent but couldn't convert a 4th and 3 and ended up turning the ball over on downs at the 49ers 37 yard line with 11:05 remaining in the game.
The 49ers offense found some success with the passing game, stringing together a 9-play drive that ended with a 43 yard field goal by Moody. Broncos still lead 13-12.
With the lead narrowed, the Broncos needed a spark and Jaleel McLaughlin, once again, provided it. McLaughlin returned the kick off for 43 yards, setting the Broncos up with great field position for the drive. Tony Jones broke a 44-yard run off the right side, giving the Broncos 1st and goal at the 49ers 9 yard line and Ben DiNucci hit McLaughlin for a walk in touchdown, extending the lead 20-12.
Much like the last game, the Broncos defense couldn't hold the 49ers off the board as Trey Lance effectively moved the ball down the field and scored a touchdown on a 22-yard pass to Cameron Latu. There were too many men on the field after the TD so the 49ers attempted to convert a 2-point conversion from the 17 yard line. That conversion failed, so the score was 20-18.
The Broncos offense needed to run some clock but unfortunately only took 21 seconds off, leaving the 49ers a lot of time plus the two minute warning to get into field goal position. Trey Lance and the 49ers offense didn't need the extra time as he found Ronnie Bell for a pair of catches, totaling 57 yards. San Francisco was able to get all the way down to the Broncos 6 yard line before kneeling out the clock and kicking a 32-yard Field Goal for the 21-20 win over the Broncos.
The next broadcast will be on Saturday, August 26th as the Broncos host the LA Rams at Empower Field at Mile High for their final preseason game. Coverage starts at 4pm with kickoff at 7pm.