Denver Broncos

Vs.

San Francisco 49ers

August 23, 1968

Brodie Leads 49ers Over Broncos, 22-6

DENVER, Aug. 23- The San Francisco Forty-niners, having survived the limited talents of a lesser American Football League team, start thinking about the AFL's best one today.

That would be the Oakland Raiders, the Niners' trans-bay rivals, whom they'll meet in Kezar Stadium one week from tomorrow.

The Forty-niners ended their three game exhibition loss streak here last night with a 22-6 triumph over the Denver Broncos in an interleague contest marred by mistakes, and for the home club, no small amount of misfortune.

Bronco Coach Lou Saban summed it up as "a rough night all around for us and there may be a few more."

San Francisco Coach Dick Nolan, noting it was the National Football League club's first victory in four preseason starts said, "It feels very good to get that first one." He said offensive timing was better and accounted for the triumph.

Denver's woes were compounded when starting quarterback Steve Tensi suffered a broken left collarbone. In the third quarter, Tensi was blitzed from the blind side by linebacker Dave Wilcox. Tensi will be out from four to six weeks, doctors said.

Saban, whose Broncos are now 1-2 in preseason play, said he played Tensi longer than he intended because "he needed the work." The game plan had called for Tensi to play only the first half, but as Saban said, "Steve had a tough first half."

For the 2 1/2 quarters he worked, Tensi completed five of 15 passes for 39 yards and was intercepted twice. His first reliever, John McCormick, hit 1 of 6 for 13 yards. Third string quarterback, Jim LeClair, came on late in the game to complete 2 of 3 passes for 67 yards before he was intercepted.

After misfiring in the first quarter, John Brodie of the 49ers began finding the range and finished the half with 9 completions in 17 throws for 191 yards. His pitches for 37 and 5 yards to Kay McFarland led to San Francisco's first touchdown. The second 49ers touchdown came after Brodie's 63 yard pass to McFarland and 24 yard throw to Sonny Randle. The third touchdown for San Francisco, in the final period, followed Clark Miller's recovery of McCormick's fumble on the Denver 45 and a 39 yard George Mira to McFarland pass.

Denver jumped offsides on a fourth down play midway of the fourth period when Garrett Ford plunged a yard for a touchdown. After the penalty, McCormick was thrown for an 11 yard loss to erase that threat.

Bronco tackle Rex Mirich blocked two field goal tries from 9 and 16 yards by Dennis Patera but Tommy Davis kicked one from 20 yards for 49ers.

Scoring Summary

Second Quarter

Den- Little 69 yard punt return (pass failed)

SF- Willard 1 yard run (Windsor pass from Brodie)

SF- FG Davis 20

SF- Willard 1 run (pass failed)

Fourth Quarter

SF- Crow 1 run (pass failed)

Att- 22,254

RETURN