We continue our 2011 season recap at Niners Nation with a dynamite Week 6 match up between the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions. San Francisco went on the road to Ford Field where the notable starters were Adam Snyder, Donte Whitner and Bruce Miller. Ted Ginn Jr. was also starting in place of Josh Morgan who had a season-ending injury the week before against Tampa Bay.

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49ers won the toss and deferred again - definitely revealing it to be part of their team strategy.

On the first two Lions offensive plays, Ahmad Brooks tackled Jahvid Best - the first time in the flat for a loss and the second time stuffing him at the line of scrimmage. The Lions went three-and-out on their first possession after Matthew Stafford was flushed out by Justin Smith to force the incompletion.

With Michael Crabtree and Ted Ginn Jr. starting at wide receiver, the 49ers first offensive play resulted in a strip sack by Kyle Vanden Bosch. Vanden Bosch bulled Joe Staley backwards, and reached in to strip the ball from Smith's hands, taking it away.

Aldon Smith was in early, getting pressure on Stafford but it got him a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty, which was directly followed by a neutral zone infraction call. With the Lions in the red zone, Stafford went to tight end Brandon Pettigrew, but a great play by Patrick Willis to extend and get his arm where Pettigrew was reaching for the ball, broke up the pass and potential touchdown.

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In our Week 5 recap of the 49ers vs. Buccaneers, it's important to note that Ricky Jean-Francois starting was starting at nose tackle. Also, Adam Snyder remained at right guard after overtaking Chilo Rachal the week prior. Rookie full back Bruce Miller was also starting again, which proved to be a very good decision by the staff, seeing as how Miller is a stud.

The following is a quarter-by-quarter recap of the 2011 Week 5 matchup between the Niners and visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

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49ers won the opening toss and chose to defer again. Lucky for them, the Bucs offense started slow and went three-and-out with Ahmad Brooks chasing down and hitting Josh Freeman. Early on, we saw rookie cornerback Chris Culliver on Tampa Bay's No. 1 wide out, Mike Williams.

Josh Morgan and Michael Crabtree were starting at wide receiver. Alex Smith checked down to Gore, moving the chains and taking advantage of an overaggressive defensive line - it wasn't much, but it kept San Francisco on the field. Before long, Smith lofted a dime to Delanie Walker, putting the ball in a tight window for a 26-yard touchdown in triple coverage. San Francisco took a 7-0 lead and it marked the first time SF scored in first quarter for the season.

Freeman threw one deep to the end zone on a 2^nd and short that was almost intercepted by Tarell Brown. LeGarrette Blount came out the strong runner he is, having challenged the physicality of the 49ers defense. Tampa Bay moved the ball better on their second drive; they took their time and got into the Niners red zone, but SF forced a field goal.

With a 7-3 lead, Smith threw another strike downfield to Michael Crabtree, right behind the linebackers. Smith found Crabtree in a small empty area and confidently put the ball there. He began the game 4 for 4, for 64 yards.

Ted Ginn Jr. took a sweep 24-yards the following play, allowing him to use his great open field running ability to benefit the offense. Afterward, Josh Morgan caught a slant from Smith who was getting ball out quick and being decisive.

For a moment Chilo Rachal came into the game for Adam Snyder, and on that very play, Frank Gore ran into his own man, lost the football and it was recovered by Tampa Bay.

However, the Niners had six first downs and 109 yards of total offense in the first quarter.

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Continuing with our recap of the 49ers' 2011 season, we reach the Week 4 match-up between San Francisco and Philadelphia. Of the roster-related notes, Reggie Smith and Adam Snyder starting were starting at strong safety and guard, and Braylon Edwards was a scratch.

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The Eagles began the game with the ball but went three-and-out on their first possession. Philadelphia called 3 consecutive passing plays, with NaVorro Bowman making a third down tackle on LeSean McCoy in the flat. Kendall Hunter got the start at running back with Frank Gore hampered by a bad ankle, but still playing.

Kendall Hunter looked good early, catching a middle screen and taking it up for a first down. Gore's first carry gashed the Eagles' defense up the middle for 40-yards into enemy territory. The call was an inside trap, that was well blocked, opening a gaping hole with no one there.

San Francisco quickly got in a third and long situation and had to settle for David Akers field goal attempt which pushed left.

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Entering Week 3 of our 2011 recap, we take a look at the 49ers first road game of the season versus the Cincinnati Bengals. It was a game where players Shawntae Spencer, Chilo Rachal and Madieu Williams saw significant time on the field - obviously they were not factors for most of the season. Both the offense and defense also did not feature terribly aggressive gameplans.

In the following piece, we will break down quarter-by-quarter, the 49ers third game on 2011 against the Bengals. Follow me after the jump for match-up details and in-depth analysis.

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As we continue with our season recap here at Niners Nation, we take a look at Week 2 where the San Francisco 49ers hosted the Dallas Cowboys. On Tuesday, I broke down the 49ers Week 1 contest against the Seahawks. Entering the second week, the 49ers were without wide receiver Michael Crabtree. Chilo Rachal, Moran Norris and Madieu Williams were still starting at the time as well.

In the following piece, we will breakdown the game and player performance quarter-by-quarter.

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The Dallas Cowboys came out trying to expose what they thought was a weak 49ers secondary. And for most of this game, it did look like the Cowboys got the best of the 49ers in that aspect. To start the game, Jason Witten came up with a big third-and-nine reception to keep the drive alive.

Dallas converted consecutive third downs on their first drive and frequently fielded an offense with multiple receiver sets.

Early on, Dallas running back Felix Jones hurt his shoulder after being brought down by the 49ers fierce front seven. Dallas moved the ball well on their first drive against San Francisco, though they looked foolish trying to run a double-reverse on the 49ers that went for a loss.

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Fooch's Note: We'll be breaking down all 18 regular and postseason games of the 49ers 2011 season over the course of the next couple months. After reading through this first one, if there is any additional details you might like from a game, mention it in the comments.

On September 11th, 2011, the 49ers had their debut game under new head coach Jim Harbaugh. In Harbaugh's 1st professional game as a head coach, he would take on the division rival Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks are now led by a familiar foe of Harbaugh's; in former USC coach Pete Carroll. It was a matchup between two young teams playing under relatively new regimes - both teams with talent.

To start the season, the San Francisco 49ers had Braylon Edwards and Joshua Morgan as the starting receivers. Chilo Rachal and Moran Norris were also starting for the 49ers offense. Even Madieu Williams started in place of Dashon Goldson, who was out for the first game.

In this piece, we will do a quarter-by-quarter recap of the 49ers first outing in 2011 against the Seahawks.

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Over the past few seasons, if a user wasn't hating on the play of quarterback Alex Smith, he was likely hating on the play of one of two other players. Those players were Nate Clements and Moran Norris. Clements got out of San Francisco, joining the Cincinnati Bengals, where he is not disliked immensely as well. Norris, on the other hand, remained in San Francisco and actually was the starter. He continued to be the most-disliked player on the 49ers, but eventually went down with an injury and gave way to rookie Bruce Miller.

So we'll look at Miller today, and see how he performed. It's worth noting that Miller wasn't Jim Harbaugh's first option for a fullback. It was pretty clear that he intended to draft Owen Marecic if given the opportunity, but the Cleveland Browns took him and the 49ers drafted Miller, a defensive end in college. On draft day, I was very excited because I knew a whole lot about Miller and love those particular position conversions.

Miller started and played very, very well. He caught the ball surprisingly well, and was a force as a blocker. His biggest asset was the leverage he learned as a defensive player. Miller wasn't the most athletic guy on the team, but he had the perfect upper body strength to get down low and come up under an offensive lineman to dislodge him. Now he uses that leverage against defensive players and it works wonders.

There are some who were calling for Miller to make the Pro Bowl this past season, and really, the only argument against it is the fact that he came in late and wasn't a huge impact player. I'm really expecting him to emerge as one of the league's best fullbacks, but he's still got a long way to go.

He's not perfect and makes some mistakes in regards to his assignments. To me, that's his biggest flaw right now - he doesn't always engage the right guy and isn't quite ready for the complex blocking schemes the 49ers like to use. Then again, all that he did in 2011 was without an offseason to really learn the position under the coaching staff. Future's so bright, gotta wear shades!

With the latest post up on Parys Haralson, we've got our grades back on schedule. Today, we'll continue our alphabetical run with a very significant player, who is a backup at multiple positions: Ricky Jean Francois. Drafted in the seventh round a couple years ago, many of us were actually pretty happy with him on draft day ... something of an anomaly with seventh-round picks. Either way, Jean Francois was quickly recognized as someone with a lot of potential.

He came in as a defensive end, but quickly showed that he can play nose tackle, and was hoping to challenge for some time at the position. Instead, the 49ers switched over Isaac Sopoaga and gave Ray McDonald a vote of confidence as the starter, but kept RJF as the primary backup at all positions on the line, and it turned out to be a great choice. Let's take a look at why after the jump.

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