The San Francisco 49ers hosted a joint practice session against the Denver Broncos on Thursday, which was the lone one ahead of Saturday’s preseason opener.
It was a competitive session, with varying reports sharing different perspectives on how the day went for both sides. But, the consensus seemed to be that the Broncos held the edge early on, especially with their defense, before the 49ers had a nice ending to the day, bouncing back.
What were Kyle Shanahan’s thoughts on the work the 49ers did during the up-and-down day?
“I thought it was really good work,” Shanahan said about the offensive side of the ball. “The one-on-ones I thought were good. When we got in the competitive periods, I thought they were real good. They’ve got a very good team, a real good front, challenged us with all three groups that went and I can’t wait to watch the tape now.”
Shanahan and several other coaches around the league have long valued joint practices, sometimes even more than the actual preseason, because it provides an opportunity to see where your top team currently is heading into the season.
“I think you always have an idea [of where your team is during training camp],” Shanahan continued. “We know our players pretty well and we’ve been in this long enough. You always stack up how you’ve been and where guys are at exactly. I like going against a new group because it just gets so monotonous here in camp. It gets old going against your own guys.
“But, when you go against a group like theirs, especially defensively what they did last year, statistically in all their phases and the guys that they added this offseason, we knew that was going to be a good challenge for us. I know they’ve got a bunch of good players on offense too.”
While certain reports noted the offense’s struggles at times, Shanahan was actually pleased by his quarterback’s performance, noting that he purposefully had some tough situations outlined for Purdy.
“I thought Brock had a really good day,” Shanahan said. “I never know for sure until I watch the tape, but we put him in a lot of challenging positions and I thought he handled most of them pretty well.”
Purdy offered a similar perspective on the outing, noting that it was a good overall day of work, even with certain plays he’d want back.
“I thought it was good,” Purdy said about the team’s performance on Thursday. “Obviously, there are some plays that you remember that you wish you had back and whatnot. I thought going up against another team and competing against another team, a bunch of different set of first-string starters in the NFL, a new like scheme I thought was really good for our guys to all get out there and compete, find ways to move the ball and catch the ball against tight coverage.
“So, I feel like you can’t get enough of those kinds of reps. But, for them to come in and give us different looks, face some adversity, have a couple bad plays, how do you bounce back, how do you finish practice? All those kinds of things are huge things. So, I thought it was a good day overall.”
Still, the quarterback acknowledged that the team rushed too much early, but had a nice bounce back and remained competitive throughout the morning.
“No, that’s definitely true,” Purdy said about the slower start. “I think they came out ready to roll, to compete. You could feel them. They were in the backfield a couple times, had a couple sacks and obviously some TFLs. They were ready to roll, but at the same time, it’s not like we weren’t competing at all. We are. And there are things that we need to get better at, that’s why we’re practicing.
“But I also do think it was nice to have a long practice like that so that we practice, we get fatigued. That’s going to happen in games. You’re not going to have a great first half, but you regroup, and then how are you going to finish? I thought we had a good second half of the practice and faced some adversity as an offense and then bouncing back and having some good periods at the end. So, I thought it was good for us. We need that kind of stuff to understand where we’re at and where we need to get better and learn from it and understand that football’s not going to be perfect, but how are you going to respond?”
Now, it’s ahead to the team’s first preseason game on Saturday, where the 49ers and Broncos will clash again, albeit without many of San Francisco’s starters. It’s not expected for Purdy and several key offensive players to see the field, according to Kyle Shanahan, so it will be a new look for San Francisco going up against Denver’s starters early.
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