General Thoughts:

In front of the hometown crowd for the first time this season, the defending world champions were upset by the visiting San Francisco 49ers in a classic sloppy preseason matchup.

In a game where there was a combined seven turnovers, neither team gave their best performance Saturday night and it showed.

First Team Impressions:

With Trevor Siemian under center, the Broncos offense came out firing to begin the game. After throwing the ball all the way down the field, C.J. Anderson broke through the hole for a 19-yard touchdown run, looking lean and quick.

Siemian looked smooth, throwing the ball up and down the field. Siemian displayed touch and athleticism on a beautiful completion to Virgil Green for 17 yards, in which Siemian had a linebacker right in his face. Along with accuracy, Siemian showed the ability to spread the ball around, completing five of six pass attempts for 55 yards on the drive.

Siemian’s second drive ended quickly when he decided to check down to Jordon Norwood to was tackled three yards short of the first down marker on third down. Emmanuel Sanders had a favorable one-on-one matchup, but he decided to check down and not force a turnover. Although the drive ended quickly, Siemian showed good decision making and was rewarded when Britton Colquitt dropped a dime inside the 20-yard line.

Unfortunately for Siemian, he did not show that same decision making in the third drive when he was picked off by by 49ers safety Eric Reid, who proceeded to run the ball back for a score.

Following the pick, Siemian did not look as composed in the pocket and his touch was not as precise. Watching how the quarterback acts through adversity is always a telling sign of a leader. I am not sure Siemian has that mindset at this point in his career.

Mark Sanchez came out on his first drive and moved the ball down the field. With constant pressure coming at him, the veteran QB made good decisions with the football early.

Unfortunately the first drive ended with a sack, but Sanchez made a good decision not throwing into tight coverage and was rewarded with three points. Those are the type of tough decisions NFL quarterbacks have to make.

Later in the quarter, playing with primarily backups, Sanchez executed the two-minute offense brilliantly, leading the team down the field, until he classically turned the ball over, fumbling the football in the redzone. Sanchez did a lot of things right but made a big-time mistake late in the drive.

After the defense forced a fumble and got the ball back for the offense, Sanchez was stripped again, once again turning the ball over and fumbling away points.

Sanchez played like he did his entire career. Showing the ability to move the ball up and down the field, but the ill-timed mistake costing him in the end.

On the other side of the ball, the first-team defense came out physical against the fast paced 49ers offense, forcing a punt after just three plays. Derek Wolfe relieved Broncos fans when he opened the game with a tackle for loss and made a variety of other impressive plays throughout the half.

On the second drive, the defense showed the classic “bend, don’t break” mentality, forcing a punt after giving up a big first down conversion to start the drive. The pass-rush was consistent and in the QB’s face from the start and the defensive backs were excellent in coverage.

All things considered, the starting defense looked fast and physical. Something fans have become accustomed to in Wade Phillips’ defense.

Backups/Newcomers:

Devontae Booker saw a lot more playing time tonight and Broncos fans got the first taste of what the former University of Utah superstar can do. Booker looked good between the tackles and showed the ability to get to get through the first line and onto the second level of defense with ease.

Running the offense for the entire second half, Paxton Lynch looked uneasy in the pocket during his first two drives. On the third drive late in the third quarter, Lynch completed a few short passes and started to gain a rhythm.

On third and ten, Lynch delivered an absolute strike to Jordan Taylor on the sideline for a first down, showing off his arm strength and why the Broncos drafted him. Later in the drive, Lynch held the ball for too long but shrugged off a tackle and proceeded to outrun the entire defense and nearly get a first down.Three plays later, Lynch capped the drive off with a touchdown throw on the run.

Lynch led another impressive scoring drive late in the fourth quarter, capping it off with a strike in the corner of the end zone to Durron Neal, but the game was already out of reach at that point.

After playing as well as he did, Lynch is definitely making this quarterback competition interesting. Despite his tendency, to hold the ball, I would love a chance to see Lynch run with the one’s.

His athleticism is far superior to the other two QB’s and he is definitely the most exciting on the field. Lynch will need time to get comfortable within the offense, but after neither Sanchez or Siemian took the job by the reigns, the “Paxton Lynch era” might begin a little sooner than expected.