| Authored by Christopher Reina - 22nd September, 2008 - 11:27 am
 Nate Clements turned Calvin Johnson into a show horse on Sunday, and in turn, J.T. O’Sullivan is being transformed into a genuine NFL quarterback.
Johnson didn’t catch his first pass until there was 10:30 left in the 3rd quarter when Clements gave up too much space in his coverage allowing the 1st down.
“I tried to disrupt his run routes,” Clements told me following the game. “A lot of jam, giving him different looks,” he added.
But Clements believed his effectiveness against Johnson came from the play in the trenches.
“The D-line set the tone all day.”
Clements’ physicality coming off the line of scrimmage was an option available to him because of that pass rush.
“The secondary did an outstanding job today,” said Nolan. “I didn’t know how big those two guys (Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams) were until I saw them on the sidelines.”
In a game where finding negatives of the 49ers feels like nitpicking, Michael Lewis made a couple of plays that could prove costly in a closer game.
In the 2nd quarter, on a second fake reverse to Calvin Johnson, Jon Kitna handed off to Rudi Johnson for a 17-yard play aided by a missed tackle from Lewis.
The Lions’ lone touchdown also came on a blown tackle by Lewis when Rudi Johnson scored on a screen pass in the 4th quarter. The drive lasted just 2:34 and Lewis needed to make that tackle, not just to save the touchdown but to keep the defense on the field and allow the Niners to continue to drain the clock up 28-6.
The defensive performance as a whole was excellent, limiting the Lions to just 14 1st downs, most of them in the 4th quarter and gave the 49ers excellent field position on the first three series of the game. By allowing J.T. Sullivan to begin their second and third drive on their own 49th and 47th respectively, the Niners only had to march half the field to make it a 14-0 game.
Even though the Lions made a great comeback against the Packers a week ago, the body language of their offense suggested that the game was already a lost cause and that their defense would once again allow too many points for them to compete, this time against their offensive coordinator from a season ago.
The face of O’Sullivan following the game when talking about Mike Martz was one of almost religious devotion.
“If they do exactly what Mike Martz wants, we will be successful,” said O’Sullivan.
The mood in the locker room was particularly cheerful, and if there was an O'Sullivan/Martz non-believer among them, he hid it well.
Bryant Johnson, Issac Bruce, and Arnez Battle aren’t a trio of receivers that can be explosively dominant, but they are greater than the sum of their parts because of the Martz system, executed flawlessly by O’Sullivan.
I’ve been an O’Sullivan skeptic, but who wouldn’t be skeptical of a five-team (even more if you count preseasons, practice squads and NFL Europe) journeyman out of UC Davis?
Apparently not O’Sullivan. He is getting his first shot to start at 29, but he clearly believes his talents are there and that he will stick around for a while.
“I’m pretty confident to begin with,” said O’Sullivan. “My confidence hasn’t grown because of the last two weeks.”
Eric Heitmann, who delivered a great downfield block on the Battle double reverse that added at least six or seven more yards on the 18-yard gain, disagrees with his quarterback.
“His confidence has increased tremendously since the preseason,” said Heitmann.
Alex Smith would have surely been more 'Norv Turner Alex Smith' than 'Jim Hostler Alex Smith', but injury or not, O’Sullivan is without question the most talented quarterback for this team.
From what I can gather, O’Sullivan will never embrace the media or the stardom, even remotely, that can go with being an NFL quarterback, but the raucous roar he received when running off the field and into the old Giants’ dugout towards the locker room is a feeling that must be meaningful to a kid who grew up in the area as a 49ers' fan.
O’Sullivan was adverse to describe the game as anything other than a win and stressed how difficult it is to win NFL games, but he admitted that as a little time goes by after the win, the sentimental aspect of it might be appreciated more.
He is much more appreciative and deferential to having a chance on this level and to Martz for giving it to him.
“The thing I appreciate the most (about Martz) are the levels of excellence he expects out of himself and all of us,” said O’Sullivan.
It didn’t look like a lot at the time, but a 15-yard pass to Delaine Walker when O’Sullivan initially went right and then came back to the left for the mini-screen defined the ease in which the Niners moved the ball and maybe even the level of excellence of what a Martz offense can accomplish.
This pass play was the longest gain on the 12-play, 7:12 drive that ended with a Allen Rossum touchdown from 1-yard out on 4th down.
The 49ers have now essentially handed over the team to two guys that became hugely unwanted in the NFL. One had accomplished a few things as an offensive mind and a head coach and the other just a Harlon Hill Trophy finalist. But out of the scrap heap into Candlestick, the marriage is the best chance the Niners have had during the entire Nolan-era.
Christopher Reina is the executive editor of RealGM. |
