Denver at San Francisco

This game will be billed as a potential Super Bowl preview by some. While that is certainly a possible fate of these teams, this specific game will not be a Super Bowl preview by any stretch of the imagination. Taking a look at this game from a coaches' perspective, John Fox has had 4-0 preseason finishes on three separate occasions, and seems to have more of an appetite for winning here than most. The big edge here may go to Denver who has a lot of injury issues and may need to give some players a lot of reps at new positions - or a lot of reps to those that will be filling in to ensure they are ready for the season opener. I think things are much more settled for San Francisco at this point and I would not look for a lot of starters to be getting extended reps in Game 1. When push comes to shove, Peyton Manning has not missed a practice this year, and appears to be as healthy as he has been in a few years, and is looking forward to getting all the situations from red-zone, and third down situations, to airing it out early in this one. I like Denver in plus the points here.