So pre-season is underway and last night the 49ers beat a soft Colts and the Broncos lost against the Bengals. Both games were away, so the rookies won’t get their first taste of Candlestick Park or Mile High until next week.

With just 11 weeks until these NFL teams grace the UK’s shores we’re still watching with interest. But apart from the first games, what else has happened?

San Francisco 49ers

I spoke last week about the rookies coming good in the offensive line. Not such good news it that centre Eric Hietmann has broken his leg and could miss up to 8 weeks.

On the other side of the ball Scott McKillop is probably out for the season after tearing his ACL. Rookie NaVorro Bowman will hope to continue to improve to get play time with Takeo Spikes and Patrick Willis, who was last season’s Alumni Linebacker of the Year. Staying on Defence, Taylor Mays has been moving slowly up the depth chart and may break the first team in the next few weeks. He’s one to watch in the pre-season games.

Alex Smith

More positively, Vernon Davis has been impressing with his ethic and there is continued talk about how Alex Smith is leading the team. It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Smith, but Vernon Davis is also a player I’m excited to get to see come October. Hopefully his sprain incurred in last night’s game is not too serious.

Also in last night’s game, Anthony Dixon got a staggering (for a pre-seaosn) 32 carries and made 100 yards. One to watch in the 49ers backfield.

Denver Broncos

Injuries, injuries and more injuries. That’s the story of camp so far for the Broncos.

Compounding the serious surgery to Elvis Dumervil, Jarvis Moss stepped up and broke his hand. Queue much creativity and re-organisation of the Broncos’ front seven. The latest word on ‘Doom’ is that he will be back “this season”… take that how you will.

Ryan Clady has not practised yet, and probably won’t this pre-season, but rookie Demaryius Thomas has looked athletic during drills and his mental approached is being appreciated by coaches and players alike.

Kyle Orton is still the unquestioned starter at quarterback and is quietly going about his business. For the backups: Brady Quinn struggled last night and gave up an interception. Tim Tebow scored a very Tim Tebow style rushing TD on the final drive last night.

Tim Tebow

LenDale White is suffering with cramps, and Justin Fargas (aka Huggy Bear Jr.) has joined the crowded – if banged up – backfield. Bringing in a 30 year old with a history of injury problems shows you how desperate things are in Denver right now. Marquez Branson was carted off the field with an ankle injury on Wednesday.

Prediction-O-Meter

So there’s not been much movement for either team, and certainly very little movement between the relative positions of the teams and few clues can be gleaned from a week 1 pre-season game. But those injuries keep piling up for the Broncos. We’ll see what coach McDaniels is made of as he looks to get the best out of the players he has. But it’s too early to really predict how much on an impact they’ll have – and of course, the regular season is still a few weeks away and the game in the UK is 11 weeks away.

So it’s as you were for now. If the Broncos continue to take knocks, then I could easily be moving the ball next week… assuming nothing major changes in San Francisco. But it remains a narrow win for the 49ers at the moment.

WEMBLEY GAME 2010 - PREDICTION

Image Credits
Alex Smith – Monica’s Dad
Tim Tebow – watsomsinelgin