Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
The San Francisco 49ers kick off their much-anticipated 2019 season in sunny Florida on Sunday, bringing more offensive weapons, a significantly upgraded pass rush and a healthy Jimmy Garoppolo to face a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that is now led by Bruce Arians. Here we discuss the odds and analysis from a betting perspective.
When: Sunday September 8th, 2019 at 1:25 PST (FOX)
Where: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa Bay, Florida
Line: 49ers PK, o/u at 50
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Tampa Bay devolved into one of the worst defenses in the league by the end of 2018 and lost Gerald McCoy and Kwon Alexander. The offensive line and running games are question marks, and likely weaknesses, and Jameis Winston still has yet to prove he can make news for things other than blunders.
But Bruce Arians is a major upgrade at coach, as is new defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, who won the AP assistant coach of the year award for his 2014 effort as defensive coordinator for the Arizona Cardinals while Bruce Arians was head coach.
San Francisco 49ers: The Niners have assembled what could be one of the most formidable front sevens in the league, including
Nick Bosa and Dee Ford joining fellow first-round picks
Arik Armstead, DeForest Buckner and Solomon Thomas. Jason Verrett, who has not played a regular season NFL game since rupturing his Achilles tendon on July 27th, 2018, was signed to cornerback for a secondary that had only two interceptions in 2018.
Jimmy Garoppolo is healthy but who knows for sure how his mind and surgically-repaired knee will respond to full throttle NFL speed or how well a Niners offensive line that conceded 48 sacks in 2018 will be able to protect him. Tevin Coleman and Matt Breida have the potential to be quite a one-two punch in the running game and could find more room as defenses try and focus on
George Kittle, Marquise Goodwin, Dante Pettis,
Deebo Samuel and Trent Taylor.
Prediction: ESPN's NFL Football Power Index is based off of expected offensive, defensive and special teams efficiency (FPI) and has the 49ers at 0.4 and Bucs at -3.0, and we would agree that San Francisco has a better running game and defense but some might argue that Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and O.J. Howard are right up there with San Francisco's top receivers.
Say what you want about Jameis Winston, but he's won more road games in the NFL than Jimmy Garoppolo and had a higher total QBR (68.6) than Garoppolo (29.9) in 2018, and Tampa Bay's offensive line gave up eight fewer sacks than the Niners did in 2018 and had a 6.6% sack rate compared to San Francisco's 8.0% last year.
Robert Saleh is improving as a defensive coordinator and the Niners have more talent on defense, but Tampa added Ndamukong Suh, drafted linebacker Devin White with the fifth overall pick in 2019, and has Todd Bowles, who will get the most out of the defense.
If San Francisco has better players, that advantage could be slightly muted by this game being on the east coast in 88 degree weather, and we see this being a very close match up and the line reflects it.
Ultimately, we see the difference in this game coming down to coaching. Bruce Arians has more of a proven record in the NFL and Kyle Shanahan went the entire 2018 season without winning a road game, having won the only three road games of his head coaching career at the end of 2017 against teams that had absolutely nothing to play for.
Tampa Bay has beaten the 49ers in two straight games, including 27-9 last season in Week 12 at Tampa Bay, and Bruce Arians has beaten the Niners in six straight, seven of eight contests, and he is likely to find ways to exploit San Francisco's secondary, all of which lead us to give the edge to the Bucs.
Pick: Tampa Bay PK
Poll
- What is your best bet for 49ers at Buccaneers on 9/8/19?
49ers PK
Under 50
Buccaneers PK
Over 50
- 1,138 votes
The San Francisco 49ers expect their second-year quarterback, Brock Purdy, to start throwing again this week. Purdy underwent surgery on March 10 to repair the tear of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow, an injury sustained on January 29 in the NFC Championship Game. The expectations were always for the quarterback to start throwing again in early June.
Purdy won't be doing anything excessive at first. He will likely be limited as this portion of his rehabilitation begins, and his workload will ramp up in the coming months.
Purdy's return timeline remains up in the air. However, the team will know more once he starts throwing again. Head
Everyone is trying to predict the San Francisco 49ers' starting quarterback when the team takes the field during Week 1 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Will it be Brock Purdy, Trey Lance, or Sam Darnold?
Purdy started some light throwing this week while under some careful supervision. He is nearly three months removed from the surgery to repair the tear of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow, an injury suffered during the NFC Championship Game.
Purdy's workload will ramp up, and the 49ers remain hopeful that he can begin throwing normally before the start of the regular season—maybe even sometime during training camp. The second-year quarterback hasn't had any setbacks, so that is certainly
The San Francisco 49ers announced today that they are canceling the third and final week of organized team activities (OTAs) and moving up their mandatory minicamp to next week.
The team's mandatory minicamp was initially scheduled to begin on June 13 and run through June 15. It will now begin on June 6, with practices at 10:40 a.m. PT on Tuesday and 10:50 a.m. PT on Wednesday. Both sessions will be open to the media.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan and select players are scheduled to speak with reporters on Tuesday, and defensive coordinator Steve Wilks and players will field questions from the media on Wednesday.
Initially scheduled to be a three-day minicamp, the 49ers will likely give players the third day off from practice, as they have done in
(Episode 238) - Brian Renick and Al Sacco give their first impression of Trey Lance's new throwing mechanics in OTA's, the QB2 battle is wide open, how much 49ers fans need to appreciate Brock Purdy, reaction to the newly introduced "Brock Purdy" rule, and more!
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