49ers 20, Lions 6 (highlights here)
It was a great win for the 49ers and this gives them a chance to finish at .500 for the first time in almost a decade, but there were a lot of bumps along the way. To summarize:
Bad: The 49ers could not manage to score a single point off those turnovers. Good teams find ways to punish their opponents for their mistakes - the 49ers obviously are not there yet, not until Smith and the offense get better. Let's not get ahead of ourselves either. The Lions had a 3rd-string quarterback in there and he made a whole bunch of mistakes - had they started Stafford, the game might have ended much differently.Good: Gore had a big day, totaling over 150 yards (81 receiving) and scoring a touchdown.
Bad: Gore also had a fumble and was stuffed on a 4th and short that should have been converted. 71 yards on 28 carries for a low 2.5 yards per carry is nothing to gloat about either. Gore did well today, but it could've been a lot better. 49ers need to get Gore a late Christmas gift the next NFL draft by picking a good offensive lineman or two.
Good: Smith led two touchdown drives in the 3rd quarter that put the game away and finished with a quarterback rating of 97.5, with no interceptions.Bad: His play was very inconsistent and the 49ers offense did nothing in the first half. Had Stafford been playing, the 49ers would probably have been trailing at halftime.
Good: This 50 yard connection between Crabtree and Smith. Is this our future? The follow-up to the Montana/Young-Rice combinations?
Bad: The ball was underthrown. A better thrown ball further down the field would have resulted in an easy touchdown. Also, how the hell do you fall behind, even by 3 points, against the freaking Lions?
Good: This play-action pass to Gore on 4th and short.
Bad: That they needed something like that to get past the lowly Lions on 4th and short.
Good: Gore has another 1000-yard rushing season.Bad: No playoffs, again.
Good: Hey, a win is a win right?
Bad: It shouldn't even have been close. The 49ers need more from their offense and to take advantage of those turnovers. They also need to make things happen themselves - the opposing team isn't going to hand them the ball over and over again every game. Lions haven't won a road game since 2007 either.
Good: They still have a chance to finish at .500, on the road against the Rams, which would be their best record since 2002.
Other interseting notes from around the league:
- The NY Giants were completely humiliated in a 41-6 blowout by a Panthers team led by backup/journeyman quarterback Matt Moore in their final game at Giants stadium. It was 31-0 at one point before a Lawrence Tynes field goal.
- The now 3-13 Tampa Bay Buccaneers found a way to beat the Saints by a score of 20-17 in overtime thanks to a missed 37-yard field goal (check out this guy's priceless reaction at 0:37 in this video) by the Saints kicker (pictured above) in the waning seconds of regulation, handing them their second consecutive loss of the season. The Buccaneers managed to win despite falling behind 17-0 in the first half. What's more interesting is the game-winning drive in OT by the Bucs - they ran the ball 11 straight times right at the New Orleans defense for 48 yards to get into field goal range and did not need to throw even once. This could be a meaningless loss by the Saints, but they need to be careful and make sure that they're ready for the postseason.
- Colts finally lose, by a score of 29-15 to the Jets. This one was more understandable, however. The Colts have already clinched a first-round bye and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Caldwell put his quarterback's health first instead of going for the perfect season, pulling Manning and a few other starters in the 3rd quarter.
- Eagles beat the Broncos 30-27 and have a shot at taking the #2 seed away from the Vikings. Vikings will play on Monday night against Chicago, as people begin to wonder whether Favre has hit his age limit.
- Pittsburgh looks to be back on track after losing 5 straight games, 3 of which against very weak teams, with a 23-20 win over their division rivals. But is it too late for them to get back into the playoffs and defend their Super Bowl crown?
- Raiders still suck. They started Charlie Frye this week and he actually threw for 323 yards, best in the NFL this week, and they STILL lost.. hahahahaha. Wait.. holy shit, the Browns have won 3 straight games? What happened? They were just 1-11 a few weeks ago...
- Cowboys already leading 7-0 in the first quarter.
Other notes:
- Riley still sucks.
- Giants close to resigning Uribe to a very economical 1 year deal for $1 million + incentives.
- Christmas is over.
- Sherlock Holmes was a pretty good movie. (Just saw it this morning.) Still haven't watched Twilight and hopefully never will...
- Urban Meyer stepping down as.... wait no, never mind, looks like he changed his mind...
(Images from the Associated Press, Getty Images, and Yahoo!)
No comments:
Post a Comment