The Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers are heading in opposite directions. How does Madden and myself see the game playing out?
Returning to the stadium where they won their recent title, the Denver Broncos look to keep pace with the rest of the AFC as they take on their final NFC opponent of the season, the San Francisco 49ers.
Denver is currently a 3.5 favorite heading into Sunday’s matchup. When the week began, Denver was a 5.5 favorite. I have a feeling the injury to Emmanuel Sanders and the game status of Chris Harris Jr. played a factor in that.
Denver will be relying on quite a bit of rookies to step up on Sunday. Mike Klis provided this interesting tidbit.
I believe these last four games will really be telling on where the team’s future lies. It will take some effort, but I am looking forward to it.
Madden has been interesting lately for me. How does this game play out? Let’s find out. In the first quarter, Denver got the football. With some timely passes, they were able to get down the field. The drive ended with Case Keenum finding Courtland Sutton in the end zone for the first score of the game.
San Francisco’s first possession saw them drive down the field with timely passes of their own. However, the first quarter would come to an end with the Broncos leading 7-0. However, on the first play of the second quarter, Nick Mullens found George Kittle in the end zone. A timely play by Justin Simmons made sure the 49ers remained with a goose egg on the scoreboard when he timed an interception by jumping the route, maintaining possession and went out of the end zone for the touchback.
Denver drove down the field, but some miscommunication in the red zone forced them to settle for three points. Just three plays after the field goal, San Francisco marched down field and scored a touchdown. What will be noticeable in this game is how badly Chris Harris Jr. will be missed.
Denver would get the ball back and kicked a field goal just before the half expired to make it a 13-7 game. The third quarter was scoreless as it was a battle of field possession with punts.
The fourth quarter began with a nightmare. As Denver was planning to get in the end zone, Case Keenum was sacked and the 49ers forced a fumble, which they recovered. Luckily, the Broncos defense held them off and they were forced to punt.
The touchdown would make it 19-7. Denver went for two and failed. On the next drive, sensing the game slipping away from them, Nick Mullens went deep on three passes and it resulted in a touchdown. The score now stood at 19-14. Denver was able to drive down on their next possession but could not get in the end zone. They would settle for a long Brandon McManus field goal to extend the lead to 22-14.
With time running out, the 49ers were facing a third and long. Nick Mullens went deep and found his receiver and he sprinted all the way for a touchdown. The pass defense for the Denver Broncos was pretty poor in this game. The 49ers lined up to go for two. But the defense came through and stuffed the running back.
With no timeouts left, the 49ers went for the onside kick. DaeSean Hamilton, who had a phenomenal game with over 150 yards receiving, recovered the onside kick. Case Keenum only needed one kneel down to end the game.
What a close and contested game. It almost looked like the game would have to be settled in overtime. But the Broncos were able to pull off the victory.
Winning by such a small margin would not surprise me. With all that has gone on in Denver, it would make sense.
Phillip Lindsay started this game slow, but his touchdown helped him go over 100 yards in this game. Like I mentioned above, DaeSean Hamilton had himself a game. While he did not get a touchdown, he accumulated over 150 yards receiving.
Von Miller and Bradley Chubb had some key sacks in the game that stopped some of the drives.
Tune in next week as the Broncos take on the Browns.