SANTA CLARA - The 49ers are 3-0, the Broncos are 2-1, and Sunday at Levi’s Stadium is already being framed as the kind of game that makes people start talking way too early about January and beyond.
That kind of chatter comes with the territory when a team opens hot, and Brock Purdy made the point plainly Thursday after being named NFC Player of the Month: “It’s so early in the year that I’m trying to go win this next game and be my best today, right here, right now.”
That’s the whole job for San Francisco this week. Keep the start rolling.
Handle Denver. Stay unbeaten under a scorching sun.
And if the 49ers want to do that, a few things have to go their way.
The first is the turnover battle. Denver comes in tied for the league lead with four interceptions, while Purdy has been sharp since the Rams picked him off a month ago in Australia.
Since then, he’s thrown nine touchdown passes in 64 attempts. The 49ers quarterback also hasn’t gone four straight games without an interception since 2003, when none of his 141 passes was picked off during the 49ers’ 5-0 start in their NFC Championship-winning season.
Denver’s takeaways have come from Brandon Jones, Riley Moss, former 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga and Hufanga’s pick-six against Matthew Stafford on Sunday night. Patrick Surtain II and Ja’Quan McMillan are also threats.
On the other side, the 49ers’ defense has gone two straight games without a takeaway, and Renardo Green’s interception is still their only one in 2 ½ games. Broncos quarterback Bo Nix has been intercepted once in each game this season.
San Francisco also has to keep Purdy upright. That’s been the formula all season, and it matters again against a Denver defense that racked up 68 sacks last year.
Purdy has been hit only six times this season, using his movement and feel in the pocket to avoid pressure. Denver has eight sacks through three games, while the 49ers have six.
Zach Allen leads the Broncos with four sacks, three short of his total from last year. Nik Bonitto, who had 14 sacks last season, has one so far, and so do Malcolm Roach, Eyioma Uwazurike, Que Robinson and Hufanga, who has also been used as a blitzer.
Health and cohesion are another big piece of the puzzle. The 49ers are juggling injuries at wide receiver and on the defensive line, and the constant rotation can make life messy.
If Mike Evans plays through broken ribs or not, Purdy figures to lean on George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey, with Deebo Samuel in the mix after his unusual line last game: no catches, but 80 receiving yards thanks to the hook-and-lateral touchdown. Kittle also has a memorable history against Denver, posting 210 yards in 2018, the most ever by a 49ers tight end in a game.
Brandin Cooks is expected to make his 49ers debut, while the team also weighs how much to use Jordan Watson and Jacob Cowing. Up front, Nick Bosa is out again with a strained right calf, the same leg tied to his ACL recovery, and he doesn’t expect to miss too much more time.
Keion White, dealing with a hamstring issue, has started impressively, and Romello Height’s hustle - even with a cast on his right hand - will matter against the mobile Nix.
The run defense is another area under the microscope. Sean Payton said Denver’s sluggish first half, which included 10 points and 10 punts in 15 series, came back to the run game.
J.K. Dobbins has only 121 rushing yards, is averaging 3.5 per carry, and hasn’t topped 50 yards in a game.
Quinn Meinerz, a two-time All-Pro guard, is the interior blocker San Francisco has to deal with, especially for linemen such as Osa Odighizuwa and Gracen Halton, who have been more effective as pass rushers, along with White. The 49ers’ run defense is 10th in the league at 3.7 yards per rush, but short-yardage problems showed up against Arizona last Sunday.
Dre Greenlaw’s status matters here if he can play through a quadriceps contusion. His move to Denver in free agency last season didn’t work out for either side, and the same kind of quad issues got in the way then, too.
Fred Warner is coming off a career-high 17 tackles in a game where the defense wore down over 87 snaps, and getting off the field faster will be especially important in the heat.
The coaching matchup is part of the intrigue, too. Davis Webb, a decade removed from quarterbacking Cal, is Denver’s offensive coordinator and has already taken criticism this season from Payton for his play-calling.
Shanahan isn’t handing that kind of responsibility away to Klay Kubiak, even though he says the offense is a collective effort and the calls would look the same no matter who made them. Still, Shanahan would probably appreciate not seeing another hook-and-lateral on third-and-long like the one from last Sunday’s opening series.
On the other sideline, Shanahan gets another crack at Vance Joseph, whose aggressive defense is familiar territory, while Webb tries to solve Raheem Morris and the multiple fronts that helped shape the 49ers’ opening series last week.
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For the 49ers, it was another reminder that Greenlaw is not just back, he matters to their defense in a big way. After spending the previous season with the Broncos, he has reestablished himself as an important piece in San Francisco, and the message he delivered Sunday carried the kind of personal sting that tends to follow a player who felt he had something to prove. [Read more 🡒]