Rumble - Before the game I noted in my Prospector’s Preview that we needed the bubble screen to work. I have never seen so many Smoke/Push/Screen patterns run by wide receivers inside and out. How many times was the play a simple, lateral attack for a 1-3 yard gain? Heck, it got to be so overused that I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for a fake and then a nice dumpoff a little further down the line for a big RAC gain. So many drives the play call or audible had us going sideways instead of downfield. Sure, they have a good up and coming safety but we did almost nothing to challenge that team. We mixed filled boxes by throwing short and outside passes that only encouraged safeties to help shut us down even more.

Rave - You know that a team with a weak running game respects your defense’s run stopping ability when they open with a reverse. How many end-arounds and reverses did they mix in as the game went on? That’s what I call respect and it was a good sign that our defense is good enough to start dictating what offenses can do in some phases of the game. If we can finally add in some safety play that makes teams play for down the field gambles, we will have a verifiable, without a doubt playoff quality defense.

Rave - If there is something to be impressed with is how well Spikes has turned it on in recent weeks. He has been not only playing an excellent TEd but he has been blowing up blocks and penetrating and shutting down runs on his side of the LOS while also adding some good pass rushing pressure and flat out making plays.

Rumble - When did we start to play with such mittens on defense? I couldn’t list the number of times plays that players simply tried to drag down or chase out WR Calvin Johnson. Sure, he’s big but that makes for more to hit! DBs and LBs continually managed to talk him down softly and were content to angle him out of bounds instead of pounding him. In his short career, it’s teams that use that big frame as target practice that slows him down and wears him out. time and again DET got him the ball in vulnerable spots and we did not take the shots.

Rave - One of the better games I have seen LG Baas play as a pro. This after last weekend when he and  Chilo were both trapping and helping out Gore, in this game he was helping to open up holes as well. He is making a late season push to be kept around here.

Rave - It’s time to seriously consider crowning OLB Brooks as a possible pass rushing savior. What I see overall is how he has helped us to lead in sacks, he has added 5 forced fumbles. Between him and our other 2 OLBs, we have 16 sacks. That’s as good as having a pair of 8-10 sack artists starting. It may lack a dominant single player, but those teams also suffer if they lose that one guy. This rotation seems to be working fairly nicely at the moment.

Rave - As I have said before, everything I see about Goldson suggests to me he is playing the wrong position. The kid likes to hit and isn’t shy to attack the LOS in order to make a play. He also has the best raw range of any of our safeties, meaning he is an upgrade over Lewis in being able to help deep coverage. He is having a good, solid year but I think what we really need is not a hitter at FS but rather a true center field ball hawk that has great range. I would not mind Tennessee’s S Eric Berry with our first pick in the next draft.

Rumination - This is not how we should be playing against DET and the unit that did not come to play was the offensive schemers. A lot of blame has to go around. I didn’t like the lateral passing game and almost no downfield passing. I didn’t like the ridiculous near zero-usage of our running game followed by a near complete dependence on it that even the defense can read. Sure, by the end of the game the stats may show balance but when you open nearly 85% passing and then shift to 80% running…you’re not fooling defenses. But then there was Smith, whose numbers were solid but built highly on high percentage short passes. He also overthrew some open players and failed to connect on the deep shots he had. Then there was the pass protection, DET watched the previous weeks’ film and had the edge and backside safety blitz forcing Smith right. All around weak execution of a bad gameplan. With out turnover edge and chances, even with a street kicker limiting our chances, we should have punched in a solid 2-3 more TDs…easily. When a basement feeding team like DET limps in and gives up 6 turnovers….we should win 40-6, not 20-6.

Rumination - As one journalist said recently, it’s easier to go from crummy to mediocre than it is to go from mediocre to good. Plenty of teams manage to have that season where a few things go their way in the schedule and injuries and they go from the sub 5-win basement and push into the 7 to 9 win territory. For example, the 2006 49ers or last year’s CLE Browns and to some degree, the 2008 49ers as well. Teams manage to luck into a 7-9 or 8-8 season without much talent all of the time. It’s much harder to take that middle of the road team and get over the hump to a solid playoff contender. Personally, I can only think that we’re a playoff team that underachieved and the hump is not there. Seriously, we had no business playing so poorly versus SEA and we had everything needed to beat MIN. We went 5-1 in our division when we had everything it takes to go 6-0. We are a solid 10-11 win team that underachieved and I firmly believe that.