SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Through the process of elimination, a bullseye has been placed on Broncos rookie running back Phillip Lindsay.
There is no Emmanuel Sanders, Demaryius Thomas, Jake Butt or Jeff Heuerman to deflect attention. Lindsay is the Broncos’ No. 1 offensive threat and for the first time this season, he seemed like a marked man against the San Francisco 49ers here Sunday.
Lindsay was held to just 3 yards on 5 carries in the first half as the Broncos fell behind, 20-0. He never did break out as he finished with 30 yards on 14 carries in the Broncos’ 20-14 loss.
After averaging better than 8 yards a carry while crossing the 100-yard mark in the previous two games, Lindsay simply didn’t have much room to run here Sunday.
“It’s about getting into a rhythm," he said. “We didn’t do a good job in the first half. The second half, we had a little bit more spunk, a little bit more rhythm going into it, a little bit more attitude. That’s on us. We’ve got to start fast. We can’t keep our defense on the field when we’re not completing drives."
Patrick, Hamilton have career games
Sanders is finished with an Achilles injury and Thomas was traded away six weeks ago to Houston.
Courtland Sutton was held in check. Somebody had to catch. Tim Patrick, a late-blooming first-year player from Utah, had a career-best seven catches for 85 yards against the 49ers.
“I definitely didn’t play my best but happy with what I did do," Patrick said. “I messed up on a lot of small things I need to fix."
Hamilton, a fourth-round rookie from Penn State, had a career-best seven catches for 47 yards that included a 1-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal.
“It felt good, but obviously didn’t want it to happen with a loss," Hamilton said of his first career NFL touchdown. “I forgot the game ball, too. I wasn’t even thinking about that. I just wanted to finish the comeback and win."
In the first half of the season, Hamilton was the Broncos' No. 4 receiver and Patrick was No. 5.
Hut, hut
To try and slow down the Broncos’ pass rush, in particular Von Miller, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan had his quarterback Nick Mullens vary his snap count.
The bad news for the 49ers was they had three false start penalties. The bad news for the Broncos was Miller jumped offsides three times in the first half.
“Von is going to do that every time until you show him you’re going to go on two," Shanahan said. “The first time we went on two, we jumped."
But then Miller started guessing.
“For me, personally, three false starts in the first half is just flat-out ridiculous," Miller said. “I’m a gambling man and I broke today. I put my team in a horrible situation. Very undisciplined and guessing around, but in the end, it ended up hurting us and that’s on me."
Miller did get a sack and has 13.5 on the season and 97.0 in his career – a half sack from the team’s all-team leader, Simon Fletcher.
Bronco Bits
Inside linebacker Todd Davis had eight tackles, giving him an even 100 on the season, a team high. ...
The Broncos won the turnover battle, 2-0, yet lost the game. ...
Royce Freeman had a 23-yard run and led the Broncos with 36 yards rushing on six carries.
