This could get ugly

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Those of you who felt that Mayhew did a solid job fortifying the DB depth may be proven right. Still, folks like me who think that Florence and Lacey are scrubs also may have our day. I think this one will get ugly.

Lacey, Wendling and Florence all have helped the team go down 14-6. The only reason it's not worse is for some unknown reason Harbaugh went away from the pass. This one will be at least 27 by the Niners but I think I was wrong...the way Stafford is playing I'm not sure we can get 17. We look UGLY!!!!

Well, sitting 3 starting DBs didn't help but honestly, missing 3 takles before you bring down a player hurts more than 3 missing starting DBs. The 49ers schooled the Lions on how to make a tackle. They even smoked the dreaded open field tackles on a regular basis.

Lions missed their chances, missed 40 yard FG, dropped TD pass bys Scheffler, tough catch though better pass would have helped, giving a TD because of roughing the passer. Bottom line though the 49ers won because they played better.

Let's hope the Lions learn something from them...like how to make a tackle with one player rather than having to wait for the 4th player...

Dawildboar wrote:Well, sitting 3 starting DBs didn't help but honestly, missing 3 takles before you bring down a player hurts more than 3 missing starting DBs. The 49ers schooled the Lions on how to make a tackle. They even smoked the dreaded open field tackles on a regular basis.

Lions missed their chances, missed 40 yard FG, dropped TD pass bys Scheffler, tough catch though better pass would have helped, giving a TD because of roughing the passer. Bottom line though the 49ers won because they played better.

Let's hope the Lions learn something from them...like how to make a tackle with one player rather than having to wait for the 4th player...

The problem here Boar is that we've continued to see this tackling problem. It comes down to one thing...talent. The defensive talent outside of the front four is not that great. The Niners have talent everywhere defensively. The worst of the guys on that defense could be some of the most talented guys on the Lions defense. I know I exaggerate but that isn't too far off. Levy is slow to react and takes horrible angles in coverage and plays as soft any LB in the league. The DBs were horrible last night and if not for some SF drops and Harbaugh's confounding decision to go away from the pass for long stretches, the Niners easily score 35+. The DBs are either slow, have bad instincts and/or terrible technique. Houston is definitely fine, Delmas would be OK for a first or second year guy (unfortunately he is in his fourth year) but the rest are either rookie level performers who should be watching for a year or two or just not talented.

Offensively, I'm calling last night an aberation for Stafford. A normal Stafford game and this one is closer just because the offense would've been better. I certainly hope nobody helps excuse Stafford by talking about a dropped pass or two...Stafford was HORRIFIC last night. one unforced error after another. Still, in his body of work I have to write this one of

RLMcB wrote:The Lions would have had to play a nearly perfect game to win yesterday, because the 9ers played a pretty flawless game. Not much they didn't do whenever they wanted. However, Detroit wasn't the most embarrassed by the, "Weak NFC West Division" How about the Pats, "Skins or Cryboys. The Lions will learn from all those, "Wham" blocks two years in a row. They'd better before everyone on the schedule starts copying SF. Detroit never got Smith off his comfort spot, and SF never let Stafford get on his comfort spot. 9ers D may be the best they'll face all year. I hope they have to go up against them again this year.

Wow RL...I kept saying to my daughter..."lucky he dropped that one" I didn't see even close to perfect. The defense was damn good (A-) but the offense left a lot of chances off the board by dropping passes, missing opportunities, penalties and poor play calling. I give their offense a B against a defense that was really pretty weak (C-).

meiden wrote:

RLMcB wrote:The Lions would have had to play a nearly perfect game to win yesterday, because the 9ers played a pretty flawless game. Not much they didn't do whenever they wanted. However, Detroit wasn't the most embarrassed by the, "Weak NFC West Division" How about the Pats, "Skins or Cryboys. The Lions will learn from all those, "Wham" blocks two years in a row. They'd better before everyone on the schedule starts copying SF. Detroit never got Smith off his comfort spot, and SF never let Stafford get on his comfort spot. 9ers D may be the best they'll face all year. I hope they have to go up against them again this year.

Wow RL...I kept saying to my daughter..."lucky he dropped that one" I didn't see even close to perfect. The defense was damn good (A-) but the offense left a lot of chances off the board by dropping passes, missing opportunities, penalties and poor play calling. I give their offense a B against a defense that was really pretty weak (C-).

You know something, Stafford looked scared from the git go. He had happy feet the whole first Quarter. On many of the pass plays he had all kinds of time to go through his progressions. The pass protection was fine. He simply missed wide open players with poorly thrown passes. It was really discouraging watching him in the first half, passer rating 29.9 at the break. Stafford flat out missed recievers, throwing behind them and floating passes 10 yards behind them, (Interception)

Our pass rush was non existent most of the game. The Defensive line is underachieving so far, Fairley was a no show. Run blocking was pathetic yet again. This team is looking more and more like an 8 & 8 team than a playoff team. I would give the Offense a D, mostly because of Stafford, The Defense a C- mostly because of the poor tackling and crappy DB's and S's, Special teams a C only because of Hanson's two donk's on the goal posts, otherwise a B- for the special teams.

I didn't expect a win. And I say that the road to the SB goes through San Fran. Last year I wanted Harbaugh to pick U of M instead. I didn't want the 49ers to get him.

the long and short of it . . . .the lions lost to a better team.

and SF isn't worlds better if the lions had their secondary intact. they don't and until that happens it is going to be ugly. i thought that SF did a great job of isolating the safety on that first TD and am surprised that they didn't continue to run that play.

the lions will also be a better team with leshoure in the back field. i also thought that the outdoor setting hurt the lions somewhat, both in footing and certainly in passing.

smith played within himself and so didn't make any mistakes.

but SF is expected to do big things and it was their home opener so i can't be too disappointed.

i do not disagree. the lions do not have a creative coaching staff. the rely on basis ball and beat their man.

i am glad that you mentioned pettigrew though. he didn't have a good game. he was the second best TE on the field.

with the Safties playing deep the lions should have been throwing quick routes to their TEs all day. also the school of thought on titus young coming out of college was that he wasn't effective on the 50/50 ball. still stafford threw a couple up to him deep. if you have to throw that ball then throw it to CJ who us outstanding on the 50/50 ball.

titus could have been effectively used by hitting him under neath.

bongoman wrote:i do not disagree. the lions do not have a creative coaching staff. the rely on basis ball and beat their man.

i am glad that you mentioned pettigrew though. he didn't have a good game. he was the second best TE on the field.

with the Safties playing deep the lions should have been throwing quick routes to their TEs all day. also the school of thought on titus young coming out of college was that he wasn't effective on the 50/50 ball. still stafford threw a couple up to him deep. if you have to throw that ball then throw it to CJ who us outstanding on the 50/50 ball.

titus could have been effectively used by hitting him under neath.

good thoughts all around on this thread. I sometimes see posters talk about how "you don't know better than the guys getting paid". Really? I get why Schwartz wanted to run the ball given the Niner safeties were so far back. Still, once you see that their guys would still stone our guys on the run wouldn't it have been logical to take Bongo's thoughts and just use quick hitters under the safety who was 15-20 yards off the line? I don't buy for a minute that many dedicated and smart fans can't at least call Xs and Os as good as a coach. I'm not saying we could do better as a coach given all the other parts of the game but evaluating personnel or calling plays isn't rocket science... Carlos Rogers is better than Florence.... not hard to see that.

Here's another opinion on the running issue for the Lions. ~~~~~~~~~~~ [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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on September 18, 2012 at 9:15 PM, updated September 18, 2012 at 9:40


Earlier today we explored [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
in their efforts to run the ball against the San Francisco 49ers. The
question becomes, why weren't the Lions efficient on the ground?


After the game, coach Jim Schwartz said, "I thought at times we ran
the ball well. We knew there was going to be some times when a one or
two-yard run was a good play, but we had a couple missed cuts. We
bounced a couple outside that we should have been sticking up in there. I
think those were things that we needed to do."


So were the Lions' struggles missed cuts, blown blocks by the
offensive linemen and tight ends, or simply the result of superior
defensive players making great plays?

From our assessment of the game, it was a little from column A, a little from column B, and a whole lot from column C.
First,
let's go back to missed cuts mentioned by Schwartz. He said a couple,
and on 26 runs, I identified exactly two questionable reads/cuts by the
running backs, both by Joique Bell.
On Bell's first carry of the
game, from shotgun, his first step was to the gap between center Dominic
Raiola and right guard Stephen Peterman, but both NaVorro Bowman and
Ray McDonald's helmets were visible in that hole. Bell could have
bounced out to the right, between Peterman and right tackle Gosder
Cherilus -- who had a great block on linebacker Ahmad Brooks. Instead,
Bell cut back inside between left guard Rob Sims and left tackle Jeff
Backus, where he was quickly swallowed up by All-Pro defensive tackle
Justin Smith.
In the third quarter, Bell took a handoff going
behind Backus. The tackle had sealed Aldon Smith to the outside, but
linebackers were rapidly closing in on the gap. Instead of charging
forward for the short two- or three-yard gain, Bell tried to bounce it
outside, giving away Backus' leverage to Smith. The linebacker was able
to make the tackle for no gain.
The blocking from Detroit's line
wasn't awful, but it wasn't particularly good. There weren't a lot of
flat out blown blocks up front. Peterman struggled to maintain leverage
on defensive tackle Ray McDonald on several occasions, Backus was beaten
by both Justin Smith and Aldon Smith once, and Justin Smith also got
the best of Raiola and Sims once each.
Again, no one should
be surprised that Justin Smith is winning a healthy number of battles up
front. There's a reason he's gone to three straight Pro Bowls and was a
first team All-Pro last season.
Where the Lions truly lost the
run-blocking battle was in the second level. It seemed as if no
offensive lineman was able to maintain a block on Bowman all night. Even
when Detroit's line opened up decent running lanes for the backs, and
they did on a number of occasions, it felt like Bowman was always there
to clean up the mess.
By my count, Bowman shed blocks to make
stops on four occasions (besting three different offensive lineman),
plus he made another stop after Raiola stumbled trying to reach the
second level.
By the end of the night, it was very clear why Bowman was selected as an All-Pro last season.
The
third All-Pro on the 49ers' defense, Patrick Willis, also made a couple
of great plays. On one he fended off the block of the much-larger
Cherilus to force Kevin Smith to cut back inside where he was quickly
tackled for just a three-yard gain. On Matthew Stafford's designed draw
play up the gut, it was Willis' quick recognition and reaction of the
play, after initially splitting out in coverage, that potentially saved a
touchdown.
Finally, the efforts of safety Dashon Goldson must be
recognized. San Francisco was playing their safeties back 15 yards deep
all night, but Goldson was reading and reacting quickly enough to make
three stops within five yards of the line of scrimmage.
Goldson also came up with a crucial tackle on Smith's nine-yard run in the third quarter.
On
the play, Raiola and Peterman got great initial push on McDonald,
driving the defensive tackle back four yards as Cherilus sealed Brooks
to the outside. That opened up a huge lane for Kevin Smith on the right
side. As Smith accelerated toward the hole, Raiola broke off from
McDonald and put one of the night's few effective blocks on Bowman,
allowing the running back to blast through the second level at full
speed.
Goldson was the last man between Smith and the end zone,
but the back never had a chance as the safety took a great angle and hit
Smith hard and low, spilling him to the turf.
In conclusion, if
the Lions happen to face the 49ers again this season, and they hope to
run the ball effectively, they'll need to do a better job blocking in
the second level.

Yes, there's plenty of room for
improvement at the line of scrimmage, and the running backs could make
better decisions, but if the lineman can't maintain blocks on Willis and
Bowman, there's no chance for success