In my experience, hot weather usually means more scoring, whether it’s football or baseball. In this case, both defenses are coming off performances in which they faced more than 80 plays each. Tired legs might carry over into Week 4.
We know the San Francisco 49ers don’t struggle to score. They’ve spoiled fans to the point where if the punter comes out once a game, the offense gets questioned.
Today sets up well for Christian McCaffrey to have a field day. The Broncos are 32nd in overall rushing efficiency.
They’re dead last using a stacked box, against rushes inside the tackles, and on all designed runs.
The 49ers should live in short-down-and-distance, allowing Purdy to lean on the underneath passing game. Keep the offense on the field, give your defense a breather, and capitalize in the red zone. That’s the plan for Kyle Shanahan on that side of the ball.
As for Raheem Morris, the bend-but-don’t-break defense has worked to date. The Broncos have the pieces to push the Niners, especially without Nick Bosa. But the offseason addition of Jaylen Waddle hasn’t led to better results yet this season.
One mildly concerning area is Nix scrambling and extending plays with his legs—whether designed runs or not. The 49ers are aware of it. We’ll see if they can contain Nix.
