9102090411
DETROIT FREE PRESS
911021
Monday, October 21, 1991
METRO EDITION
1D
Photo JULIAN H. GONZALEZ
MITCH ALBOM
SEE ALSO METRO FINAL EDITION, Page 1D
Copyright (c) 1991, Detroit Free Press
LIONS' SORRY EFFORT MEANS IMPROVEMENT MAY BE ONLY MIRAGE
SAN FRANCISCO -- There was an enormous fire burning across the water
Sunday, which sent black smoke billowing over the stadium. I figure someone
took the Lions' "new" reputation and stuck a match to it.
So much for that smug feeling of improvement. The Lions may have a winning
record, but they still have a long way to go before they beat the Big Boys. On
Sunday, against San Francisco, the Lions were simply awful, when they weren't
being pathetic. How long did they control the ball? Forty seconds? How many
times did they stop the 49ers? None? Watching Detroit try to beat San
Francisco was like watching Axl Rose try to play classical music. I know the
Lions had the better record going in. But I'm not sure these teams play in the
same league.
"I know I didn't have one of my better days," said a dazed Jerry Ball
after the 35-3 drubbing. "I got hit in the head. I think I have a concussion.
It hurts bad. But I'm not making excuses."
That about summed up the Lions' explanations of this stinker. Nobody had
a good day. Everything hurt. But no excuses. You know what? I'd feel better
if there were a few excuses. Tell me the whole team came down with whooping
cough. Tell me they were all up late watching the World Series. But don't
give me this: a performance so flat, you could slip in under a refrigerator
and feed it to the mice.
Which, come to think of it, must have been how the Lions felt out there
against the 49ers. This was not a game, it was a clinic, and basically, the
Lions sat there like good students and watched: They watched San Francisco's
second-choice quarterback pick them apart like a Christmas turkey, and then
they watched the third-choice quarterback trot out and do the same. They
watched nine different 49ers catch passes on them and seven different 49ers
gain rushing yards. They watched the 49ers' defense close down everything
Detroit threw at them, when they weren't busy intercepting it or picking it up
off the turf. About the only thing Detroit didn't see Sunday was the 49ers'
punter, who could have stayed at home and saved the gas money.
And now to the bad news.
The bad news was Barry Sanders, the Lions' best weapon, who got plenty of
airtime on national TV. Unfortunately, it was always a close-up of him sitting
on the bench, while John Madden said, "Gee, I thought we'd see more of this
guy."
Tell me about it, John. The Lions gave Sanders the ball exactly seven
times all afternoon. They tried throwing him one pass. That was it. For the
best runner in the game today?
"They were keying on Barry all afternoon," explained Wayne Fontes.
Yeah? So what? You don't think every team is going to do that? When you
have Barry Sanders on your team, USE HIM. If the 49er defense keys on him, let
him run into the flat, then hit him with a short pass. Fontes said San
Francisco was "shadowing" Sanders with a man, thus preventing this. I watched
play after play from upstairs and sorry, I didn't see it. Sanders was open
plenty of the time. Besides, even if someone is shadowing the man, hell, I'd
rather take my chances with Barry and one guy than not use him at all.
"Shoot, I'll take Barry and three guys," said Lomas Brown, the offensive
tackle.
OK. Barry and three guys. The point is, you have to try. You can't say,
"Well, he's covered," and give up on him. Seven rushes and one attempted pass
is not a sufficient test for a game. All it does is play into the opponent's
hands. And don't be surprised if every team from here on in tries to do
exactly what the 49ers did Sunday. They will.
Said Fontes: "We came 3,000 miles to play a very poor football game."
Hey, Wayne. It's only 2,000 miles from Detroit.
No wonder your guys were so tired.
Which brings us to the Detroit defense, which had gotten pretty high on
its horse the last few weeks. I think 505 yards surrendered might bring those
guys down to earth. That, or the fact that in allowing the 49ers five
touchdowns, they only stopped them once on third down. And that one time, the
49ers went for it on fourth down and wound up with a touchdown.
"Maybe we got complacent, who knows?" sighed Chris Spielman. I'll tell you
what they did get: exhausted. They were out there, in the heat and the smoke,
for more than 45 minutes of the 60-minute game. Field position didn't matter
to the 49ers. Four of their five touchdown drives began on their own 11-,
12-, 20- and 32-yard lines. Heck. You could have started them in San Mateo,
the 49ers would have found the end zone.
"It was important for us to have a game like that," said their coach,
George Seifert, whose team has come under fire lately for slipping to a losing
record, "and we can't have anything less from here on out."
I like that. High expectations.
What I don't like is this: hearing the Lions shrug Sunday off by pointing
to the standings.
"We're still 5-2 and tied for first place," said Rodney Peete.
"We're 5-2 and tied for first place," said Spielman.
"We're still 5-2," said Brown.
Hey. Fellas. So what? Keep this up and you could be 5-11 when the season
is over. A winning record is not a pillow to lie on when you hurt; it's a
foundation to build on, higher and higher, you can never stop.
The fact is, Detroit's impressive record was built against five teams
that, if you gave each one a letter, would spell L- O-U-S-Y. This is also
fact: Against the only two quality teams the Lions have faced (San Francisco,
Washington), they have lost by a combined score of 70-3.
Until they beat the Big Boys -- and they have Dallas, Buffalo and two
Chicago games left on the schedule -- the jury will be out the Lions'
improvement. Sometimes it can seem as real as a crunching tackle. And other
times, like Sunday, it can seem as thin as smoke.