Postgame Cold Snacks: The most encouraging sign we've seen yet

DENVER — In a scintillating preseason bout that lasted over three hours, the Denver Broncos fell to the San Francisco 49ers, 24-15 on Monday night.

While the final score might not get you excited, there was one thing that should have you excited about the 2019 Broncos. We’re covering that and more in our postgame takeaways, which we’re now calling “Postgame Cold Snacks” because we can.

So crack open a snack of your own and enjoy.

DEFENSIVE DOMINATION

Monday night’s game played host to the most encouraging thing we’ve seen all offseason for the Broncos.

Here’s the thing, if this team turns out to be any good, it’s going to be because the defense is out of this world, and against the 49ers, they displayed that potential.

Over the course of three series against the 49ers first-team offense, Denver’s ‘D’ gave up just one first down, a 12-yard run on the first play of the game.

San Francisco’s 27.5-million-dollar quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo completed just one out of his six pass attempts for a grand total of zero yards and an impressive-for-all-the-wrong-reasons 0.0 quarterback rating.

In fact, Garoppolo completed just as many passes to the Broncos as he did to his own team, as second-year corner Issac Yiadom intercepted the 49ers QB on the first drive of the game. And it could have been worse for Jimmy G, as De’Vante Bausby dropped what what have been an easy pick-six on the second drive of the game.

The common trend in those two turnover opportunites—Bradley Austin Chubb.

Chubb was an absolute game wrecker on Monday night, making contact with Garoppolo to force the first interception and pushing six-time Pro Bowler Joe Staley into Garoppolo on what should have been the second pick.

Later, in the Broncos’ first-team defense’s one drive against the Niners’ second-team offense, it was Chubb who once again created a turnover opportunity, as he strip-sacked C.J. Beathard.

When all was said and done, behind Chubb, the top unit allowed a staggeringly low 2.1 yards per play across 15 plays. If they can keep that up, this team will win games on their backs.

RED ZONE WOES

After Issac Yiadom’s interception gave the Broncos offense incredible field position to start the game (the SF 48), the offense was able to move the ball quickly into the red zone, featuring a 13-yard completion from Joe Flacco to DaeSean Hamilton on third down, and a 19-yard run on a reverse from Emmanuel Sanders.

But with a 1st-and-10 from the 11-yard line, the Broncos went back two yards on their next three plays, eventually settling for a field goal from 31 yards out.

It marked the second week in a row the first-team offense was unable to punch it in from close range, a problem that often plagues mediocre offenses.

While Joe Flacco said he wasn’t concerned after the game, Vic Fangio disagreed.

“Like any part of the game, it comes down to guys executing the play the way it’s been designed, and we have to have good plays down there, so it’s a little bit of everything,” he said. “We can improve that, I believe. We need to in the next few weeks.”

While the preseason can be deceiving, as coaches are experimenting with certain plays and personnel, it would be nice to see Denver punch it in with the first team in their final tune-up next week.

NOT-SO-SPECIAL TEAMS

“Unacceptable.”

That’s the word Vic Fangio used to describe his squad’s special team play over the last two weeks.

On Monday, the special teams units allowed two long kick returns for a total of 80 yards and Nick Williams muffed a punt.

Asked if he has concerns about the units, Vic Fangio didn’t hold back.

“Big-time concerns because that’s two weeks in a row our special teams have gotten whipped,” he said. “We’re going to have to get it fixed. Obviously, we don’t have 53 guys ready to be picked on this team yet, and those last 10 to 15 spots have to be special teams contributors. Right now, it doesn’t seem likely they’re playing well enough. If it continues, we’re going to have to put some starters out there on those units because the last two weeks are unacceptable.”

On the bright side, Brandon McManus remains perfect on the preseason, making three more field goals tonight. Additionally, Colby Wadman, who has struggled this preseason, averaged 50 yards per punt across seven punts.

OTHER NOTES

• The Broncos run game struggled on the evening, especially for the first team.
  • No. 1 back Phillip Lindsay had just 14 yards on five carries, and Royce Freeman amassed zero yards on the same amount of carries.
  • When all was said and done, Kevin Hogan led the team in rushing with two carries for 26 yards.
• The Broncos were able to generate some ground game with creativity in the play calling as Emmanuel Sanders and Tim Patrick totaled 29 yards on two reverses.
• The left side of the offensive line struggled for the first team as both Garett Bolles and Dalton Risner had minus plays in limited action.
• In his first action as the team’s second-string quarterback, Drew Lock looked very clearly ahead of Kevin Hogan on the night, solidifying the decision.
  • Before getting hurt, Lock completed 7 of his 12 passes and led the team to a field goal behind the first-team offensive line.