Lions vs 49ers - Pregame Week 16

Throughout the year there have been some fans who griped about the Lions never giving quarterback Drew Stanton a chance. This weekend those fans will finally get to see why he has never gotten a start before. Against the San Francisco 49ers, Drew Stanton will get his first start as the Detroit Lions quarterback.

Do not expect too much from him. As I pointed out in another article, on a team as bad as the Lions and behind an offensive line as bad as what the Lions put on the field, no QB can be expected to play well in his first couple starts. Here in the 16th week of the NFL season, Stanton is getting his first week of practice with the 1st stringers. To make things even more difficult, he will be facing a very good San Francisco defense.

Maurice Morris had a strong game last week against the Cardinals. In almost 8 full seasons, it was the best game of his career, so it is not expected to happen again. Unfortunately, it was still good enough and the timing was perfect to cement him as the Lions starter, which will keep the Lions from giving Aaron Brown a chance. With his speed, I have not been able to understand why the Lions wont give him a chance to see what he can do with any real work load.Recently someone told me he was too small. If 6'1" and 208 pounds is too small then why is the 5'11" 216 pound Morris big enough? Personally I would much rather have break away speed than an extra measly 8 pounds on a running back.

The Detroit Lions yielded 110 yards and a touchdown to Chris Wells. They gave up 166 yards and a TD to Ray Rice. What should we expect Frank Gore to do?

The Lions defense actually played fairly well at times last week against the Cardinals. Believe it or not, this might not have been a fluke. It was the first game in which rookie Louis Delmas called the plays for the defense and it was the first game in which the Lions had a decently aggressive blitzing game. If they play as aggressive this week and Delmas does as good of a job calling the defense, they may just surprise the 49ers.

After last weekend, the Lions moved into the 2nd pick overall in the 2010 draft. Though most people expect the Rams to take the super defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, there are plenty who believe the Rams will not pass up on a much needed franchise quarterback. As things stand right now, I would give the Lions a 20% chance of getting Suh. It would not totally surprise me if the Lions won this week and ruined that 20% chance.

Although it wouldn't surprise me if the Lions won this week, I still cannot call for the win. For the Lions to win, it would mean their offense scoring more than their defense gives up. If the Lions defense gives up 17 points, I fear it would be too much.

49ers - 27
Lions - 13