8/17/14
49ers vs. Broncos
Recommendation: UNDER 41.5
The 49ers will play in their new stadium for the first timetoday as they welcome in the reigning AFC Champs. The big key for us in thisone is that these teams meet in the regular season. Both have Super Bowlaspirations, so the coaches aren’t going to show much. The play calling will bevery “vanilla,” and we should expect a lot of sloppy football with thereserves.
The Niners usually play well in the preseason underHarbaugh, but that wasn’t the case last week as they were dominated byBaltimore. The O-line was destroyed, exposing an area that could be a bigweakness if they don’t get things fixed. Quite Frankly, San Fran just isn’t a healthball club right now. This line seems to be moving up based on what Harbaugh hasdone in the preseason in the past, but in no way does that translate into thisgame. I wouldn’t touch this side even at -3.5, so at 4 or higher at some shopsit’s completely out of the question.
The Broncos come in having played Peyton Manning and BrockOsweiler last week. That means we’re likely to see a lot of Bryn Renner and ZacDysert. These are two guys fighting for the 3rd string position,deserving of being in the NFL but in no way, shape, or form can we rely onthem. That takes the Broncos “side” out of our hands.
With not much being shown on offense and an ugly ballgameinevitable, we’ll look to play this one UNDER the total.