San Francisco 49ers at Denver Broncos Betting Preview
The San Francisco 49ers (1-1) have avoided disaster by not being able to trade QB Jimmy Garoppolo. Second-year starter Trey Lance injured his ankle and will miss the remainder of the 2022 season, so now Garoppolo gets the keys to the offense again after taking San Francisco to the NFC Championship Game a year ago.
The Denver Broncos (1-1) thought they had their QB situation figured out for years to come by trading for Russell Wilson in the offseason and giving him a $245 million contract. It looks like diminishing returns for the 33-year-old, but then again, it is still very early. Wilson faces his old NFC West foes on Sunday as a +1.5 home underdog.
Garoppolo Gets a Second Chance
It’s not ideal that a team hands over your job to somebody else after you just almost took them to the Super Bowl, but that’s the position Garoppolo found himself in during the offseason. By all accounts, he handled the situation with professionalism and now gets a chance to improve on last year’s 3,810 yards, 20 TD, and 12 INT performance.
Garoppolo came in last week after Lance got injured and went 13/21 for 151 yards in a 27-7 win over the Seahawks. That’s really the only benchmark we have for this San Francisco team, as their 19-10 loss in Chicago in the opener came in a game that saw four inches of rainfall on Soldier Field.
Either way, Garoppolo has been a winner in S.F. (35-16 record), and he could get some help against Denver with Pro Bowl TE George Kittle (groin) probable to make his season debut.
Broncos Need to Figure Some Things Out
Denver is a missed field goal away from being 2-0 on the season, but you would think they are already eliminated from the playoffs the way the talk has been surrounding this team. There are some legitimate causes for concern, even in last week’s extremely ugly 16-9 win over Houston.
Wilson was just 14/31 for 219 yards with 1/1 vs. the Texans, a week after producing just one TD in the 17-16 loss to his former team Seattle. The Broncos are putting up solid yardage but are so far 24th in points scored at 16.0 ppg.
Denver’s defense has been great, holding opponents to just 13.0 ppg – but that’s also what San Francisco is allowing through two games. This is a battle of the top five defenses, which makes one think playing low on the total would be the lean.
49ers at Broncos Pick and Prediction
Rookie Denver coach Nathaniel Hackett has often looked overmatched through the first two games at the helm, but are those just processes in the learning curve? Wilson has also looked uncomfortable learning this new system, but can the 11-year veteran finally start to find his groove?
Although the 49ers’ defense is not the perfect opponent to work out your kinks against, Denver does have two big advantages in this matchup – they’re at home, and they have one of the best running back duos in the NFL in Javonte Williams and Melvin Gordon III. At Mile High on a Sunday night, you have to go with the home dog.
Pick: Broncos +1.5
