Pre-season Week 2
Denver Broncos: 34, San Francisco 49ers: 0
The new, billion-dollar Levi’s Stadium was on exhibition as the San Francisco 49ers played their very first home game of the 2014 season. Every seating deck was packed with hopeful spectators and full luxury boxes confirmed that this day marked a memorable event in the history of this nearly seventy year old franchise. All that remained for a perfect day was a winning performance.
Our team, clad in the home colors of red and gold, strode confidently onto the field…their jerseys standing in sharp contrast to the crisp green of the playing surface. The trembling of hands over hearts during the national anthem bespoke the anticipation which everyone felt concerning the transition to a new tradition which would be handed down the generations.
Then the game began.
The faithful may protest that this was just a pre-season game. They may further state that most of the first string talent was on the sidelines in favor of seeing rookies in action and assessing their potential prior to the final roster cuts. The particularly devoted may point to the player’s unfamiliarity with the field and its shadows. But nothing could truly quench the singed tail feathers which long-time rival Denver laid on our boys this week. Shut out. The goose egg. Zip. Nil. Nada.
We are forced to reflect on seasons past. In the 2011, 2012 and 2013 seasons , it is not like our team had perfect records. There are losses in there. There are also playoff berths. One takes the bad with a paired anticipation that good too will come. Or, in a tangential Field of Dreams fashion: It has been built, surely the good will come.
For those of you who remember the expression, “the pioneers are the ones with the arrows in their backs” with regards to being one of the first users of any facility and, wisely, prefer to wait until the bugs are ironed out…or who missed the game for reasons of a scheduling nature, here is what you missed:
Denver had an annoying habit of moving the ball from their end of the field to ours. Not one quarter went by without them pulling off this trick. Matt Prater’s 26 yard field goal at 6:40 in the first quarter put Denver on the scoreboard with all the points they would ever need…seriously. Two touchdowns in the second quarter at 11:45 (Peyton Manning to Julius Thomas) and 0:02 (C.J. Anderson) highlighted Denver’s passing and running fortes respectively with Matt Prader again adding the extra points. A good half day of work.
In the second half, backup quarterback Brock Osweiler threw 33 yards to Cody Latimer for Denver’s third touchdown of the day at 6:56 in the third quarter. Backup kicker Mitch Ewald took over from Matt Prader in the second half and displayed equal skill in making extra points and field goals…like the 22 yarder he pushed through the uprights at 13:35 in the fourth quarter. And in a final flourish, reserve quarterback Zac Dysert found receiver Cameron Morrach in the end zone at 2:35 to cap the indignity, 34-0.
Then it was finally, mercifully, over.
We must hope for a better outcome against the San Diego Chargers this coming Sunday.