Detroit. A team that just got shellacked 48-17 by the newly minted QB Sam Darnold of the New York Jets. He of USC fame and fortune. Detroit was an above .500 team last year led by Matthew Stafford. He was his usual good to decent self with 4400 yards, 29 TDs and 10 picks and a 99.3 QBR. Solid across the board. Their problem was their defense. They had a lot of losses of the 52-38 and 44-20 variety.
Stafford came out for the 2018 season by throwing 4 picks amid the slaughter at home. The Jets didn’t roll an enormous amount of yards up on them, but they didn’t have to what with the 5 turnovers (hot tub Matt Cassel chipped in with a late pick as well) and their 20 yard drives, but Darnold threw for 198 with 2 TDs and Isaiah Crowell (?) ran for 102 and a couple scores of his own.
I don’t really know what Detroit’s offseason consisted of, other than the hooraw around new head coach Matt Patricia, and I don’t really care, but this is a game that we have to win. Home opener, high expectations, our own newly minted savior quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo, the time is nigh to put together a game to show the fans this team is ready.
Jimmy G had his own baffling day last week, but it came against a Super Bowl favorite and the drops, yadda yadda yada. He can assure the fans he’s worth the coin delivered to him by the truckload by putting together a strong effort. Then again, we have to stop dropping the ball. Goodwin will likely be a game time decision, and he’s not gonna be full speed as it is, so Dante Pettis, who looked a little starry-eyed early but settled in nicely, needs to get his separation and catch some big passes. And fucking Albert Morris can’t fumble twice on the 1!!!
San Francisco 49ers Forever 
Here’s the injury report from yesterday.
Right guard Mike Person has a foot strain and fellow RG Joshua Garnett has a dislocated toe. Neither had any broken bones. Brock Coyle is in the concussion protocol, and Marquise Goodwin is day-to-day with a deep thigh bruise. If Garnett has turf toe he may be out a while.
Person and Garnett are not headed to injured reserve, but their availablility for Week 2 will not be known until later this week. If both are unable to play, we’ll probably sign another guard. Erik Magnuson is working his way back but he might still be inactive this week. Matt Tobin can play center and guard in a pinch.
If Coyle is unable to make it through the concussion protocol by this weekend, Elijah Lee would start in his place next to Fred Warner. Dekoda Watson went on IR so the team is visiting with two potential replacements for Watson, but they could also still add a linebacker to replace Coyle or an O lineman for depth at guard.
So, nothing overly terrible, but a lot of nicks and scrapes early.
It’s now 3. Yes, I’m still counting Mahomes as a rook:
Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs – 15/27, 257 yds., 4 TDs/0 INTs
28-17 W
Ka-ching! Now that’s a debut.
Sam Darnold, Jets – 16/21, 198 yds., 2 TDs/1 INT
48-28 W
Browns maybe, but definitely Giants are already secretly sweating bullets over draft day decisions.
Josh Allen, Bills – 6/15, 74 yds., 0 TDs/0 INTs
3-47 L
OK, not fair. Came off the bench to throw with his team down 40-0. Now gets his first start against the Chargers, whose front 7 helped Bills’ Nate Peterman to 5 first half INTs in his debut last year.
Talk about sweating bullets. The Bills had a playoff team. Tyrod Taylor, a top LT, and 2 first round draft picks. Now they have Nate Peterman (the same) and Josh Allen.
The Giants are on a 3 year plan. They will get their QB next year. The Bills? Ehhh. They may have fucked up hard. The Browns actually looked semi-decent. They should after all their high picks lately.
Brock to the IR.
The 49ers announced today they have signed LB Terence Garvin to a one-year deal and promoted OL Najee Toran to the active roster from the practice squad. LB Brock Coyle sent to IR The team also signed WR Frank Stephens to the team’s taxi squad.
Jesus H. Christ, it’d be nice to go one fucking game without an injury. Coyle is a good player and has played well as a Niner. Reuben can’t get back fast enough. I’ve no idea who Terence Garvin or Najee Toran is, but I’m not expecting much. At best they’re untested rookies.
I’m going to go out on a limb and call this game critical, even though it’s early in the season. Everything is lining up for a win, so the team needs to go out and grab it and I think they will. Jimmy G will perform and put the stinker of a first game behind him
Go 49ers!
Whoever he is, Titan was practicing with the 1sts today. There was nobody else available.
Toran
Yeah, if we can’t beat Detroit, we may be in for a long season. Of all our early games, this is the most winnable.
This was a really well-conceived play that just missed. This angle really lets you see it:
Maybe the safety gets Kittle, but not until he gains at least 50 yards. The next play was the pick-6. Huge 2 play swing. The Niners had chunk plays of 18, 13, 14, 22 (TD), 56, 36 and 39 yards, in addition to whatever the above play would’ve gained. For such a great defense, the Niners torched them pretty good a number of times.
But that 2 play sequence really killed them. That’s a 14 point swing and they lost by 8. Nice, easy arithmetic. In the Not For Long league, you simply have to cash in opportunities like the play to Kittle.
Tartt letting a Pick-6 get through his mitts was a killer too –
I expect a very tough game from Detroit. They have a lot to prove and they have some excellent WR’s. I think we win this one but we are gonna have to compensate for our messed up Oline. Hard to say what kind of season Pettis is gonna have he already’s showed that he can catch a ball. I am just waiting for someone to hammer him and see how he handles that.
I also got the impression that Patricia is riding the roster hard in Mo-Town.
Commentary from the game suggested he’s implementing a Pats-style of discipline to their program.
Looked to me like a lot of heavy-legged-not-so-snappy guys trying to execute vs the NYJ.
Yes, they’re embarrassed and angry but…..they’re still traveling on a shortened week.
Nothing is easy in the NFL but…I think we looked more ready to look organized than they did.
9ers 27
Lions 21
What can you say about Detroit? They don’t get up for opening day at home against a fair to middling team?
Now they are coming off a short week on the road? If we don’t win, the questions will be huge around this team.
I know parity rules, and there isn’t a hell of a lot of difference between the good and the bad, but I hope we take it to them like 31-17.
“Now they are coming off a short week on the road? If we don’t win, the questions will be huge around this team.” This is so true!
LJ, there were a lot of bad plays, including the 2 fumbles by Morris on the 1. Whole different game if we tie it up early. We pretty much gave away 28 points.
In other words, did we not score because of them? Or is it us?
Detroit is just getting their bearings. Brand new coach and system, they have some good players. I think we win also but we sure can’t overlook em. 42-16
I can see some struggles, but 5 picks? No defense? Much like Buffalo, yhey were a near playoff team (Buf even made the playoffs) and they gutted themselves and now look lost.
Hey, maybe it’s just the early season shittiness I was talking about earlier re: the shortening of training camp. But these teams (Buff and Det) look like they are severely wounded, not just shaking off the rust.
The Niners were the team that looked like they were shaking off the rust. The Lions were humiliated in their home opener by a 5-11 team.
No one here is talking about overlooking the Lions. You can’t overlook any team in the league. On any given Sunday, and all that. Chuck summed it up pretty well in his 8:36 and 3:45 posts. Niners roll and they come out swinging.
Yeah, but we need to score. A lot. In the red zone. We fricking left 35 points on the field last week.
New thread is up