SAN FRANCISCO --As the starters lined up to open Thursday's preseason game at San Francisco, Wes Welker hit the field and lined up against an opponent for the first time in a Broncos uniform.

After months of OTAs, minicamp and training camp of matching up against his Denver teammates, Welker was happy to see different colors on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage.

"It was go against somebody else," he said. "We've been seeing the same guys for the past month or so and we're just ready to get out there and play against somebody else. It was good to see and good to have that competition going against another team."

He was targeted just once, on a third-and-9 pass that fell incomplete thanks to pressure by 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith and ended the first team's lone series of the game.

Even though he saw limited time in the preseason opener, Welker felt there was still plenty to learn from that 2:48 of game time that the first-team offense was on the field.

"Just some of the mistakes that we made – trying to correct those and move it on to next week and just try to move it all together," he said. "You don't really get to get into that flow but it's just one of those deals you try to move forward with and make the best of it."

While his first reception as a Bronco will have to wait, Welker isn't worried about when that will come.

"It's early and I've had a lot of preseasons where I had no catches going into the year," he said. "It's just a matter of us getting our execution down and things like that."