Miles
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- Mar 18, 2019
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OFFENSE MOVES, BUT NOT ENOUGH, IN MOVE-THE-BALL PERIOD
With 1:20 on the clock, one timeout and a 1-point deficit, Denver's first-team offense moved the ball -- but not far enough -- in its move-the-ball series against San Francisco's first-team defense.
Joe Flacco went 6-of-7 by completing passes to six different receiving targets, but the connections mustered just 31 yards. None of the passes gained more than 7 yards. The drive ended when Juwann Winfree could not get out of bounds on a crossing pattern that took him into San Francisco territory, leaving no time on the clock for what would have been a 62-yard field-goal attempt.
The Broncos' defense had a sterner challenge: to stop the 49ers from moving into field-goal range despite beginning its possession at the 50-yard line with 32 seconds remaining. Denver forced two incompletions before Jimmy Garoppolo hit Jordan Matthews despite coverage from De'Vante Bausby for a 13-yard gain on third-and-10. After a spike and a throwaway, Robbie Gould drilled the 55-yard field goal attempt.
Each team wanted a different situation for its offense.
"The value of these practices are it's controlled practice, meaning that we can control what situations we get," Head Coach Vic Fangio said. "In games, you don't get certain situations.”
... Rookie tight end Noah Fant had three receptions, with his longest gain coming on a 20-yard reception between the numbers and the left sideline from Flacco during a seven-on-seven period.
"It was just a play for me to get open on a linebacker," Fant said. "He paused his feet and I was able to run by him and get the catch. Joe put up a good ball. It was a good connection."
Fant also had a touchdown in a red-zone period, gaining separation from 49ers linebacker Fred Warner at the goal line on the right side of the field and grabbing the pass from Flacco.
... A skirmish erupted between the 49ers defense and the Broncos offense midway through one of the team periods. It came two plays after a heated verbal exchange that followed a Dave Williams run that turned overly physical as multiple San Francisco defenders tackled him, with contact lingering beyond the whistle.
"There was some chirping, some trash-talking going on at the end of yesterday's practice, and I think it carried over a little bit to today," Fangio said.
After the skirmish, Broncos coaches sent wide receiver Brendan Langley and tight end Bug Howard back to the locker room. Fangio, who was watching his defense against San Francisco's offense, gave his assistant coaches the authority to send off players for fighting if they saw fit.
"I instructed the coaches that if something extracurricular that they deemed [worthy of] needing to be removed from the field, do it," Fangio said.
The intensity of the practice lent itself to tempers flaring, but the overarching lesson remained: Don't let it mushroom into a fight.
"I feel like we had great energy today, and if we have to get in a little scrum to do so, I think that's fine, but like Fangio said, if you throw hands, you're going to get kicked out of practice," left guard Dalton Risner said. "So I was just hopping around and kind of talking, acting cool."
... Outside linebacker Dekoda Watson saw more first-team repetitions than at any prior point during training camp, as Fangio gave Von Miller a rest day.
... Right guard Ron Leary continues to have his repetitions monitored, and he went back to the locker room after an hour and 20 minutes of work. Austin Schlottmann filled in for him after that.