49ers Vs. Lions: Breakdown Of San Francisco's Sacks Allowed

Last week, I did a breakdown of all the sacks the San Francisco 49ers managed to give up against the Green Bay Packers. The verdict ended up being something like this: Clay Matthews is really good and Joe Staley can just barely handle him on any given play. On Sunday against the Detroit Lions, San Francisco's offensive line was supposed to get another stiff test in the vaunted Detroit defensive line.

This time 'round, they only gave up three sacks. One of 'em was thanks to a horrendous flea flicker play that should be taken out of the playbook immediately, while the other two were pretty easy to dissect. Mike Iupati actually gave it up on one of them, while another was simply Ndamukong Suh doing what Ndamukong Suh does best. That giant man mountain fits himself through gaps like a cat. It's very unnerving, to be frank.

Anyway, this is my first go-round at actually making gifs, outside of the gifs I used for the Kendall Hunter-Frank Gore breakdown on SB Nation Bay Area (cheap plugs - I love 'em), so give me some of your feedback. Let me know if the size is too much with three .gifs, because if the page is too laggy I'll be sure to fix that in the future. And yes, getting Jim Schwartz's expression in on the third .gif was so very intentional. Every time Detroit's defense made a play he managed to look for a camera and stare directly at it. Creepy. Make the jump

2nd Quarter, 10:04, 1st and 5 on DET 39, Time Between Snap And Sack: 6 secs, Time Between Snap And Pressure: 3.5 secs

San Francisco lines up with Frank Gore and Bruce Miller in the backfield, with two receivers wide and some tight ends slightly off the line. Smith motions Miller out to the right side of the formation, and snaps the ball. It's a half-hearted play action and the protection is good to start with. Mike Iupati engages Sammie Hill and eventually, Hill gets the better of him, shrugging him aside. Joe Staley doesn't engage anyone on the play, instead backing up and turning left, completely missing the gigantic Hill getting past him. Smith manages to get away from Hill, but Ndamukong Suh finally gets away from Jonathan Goodwin, and Iupati is still turned around, so he brings Smith down for a 12-yard loss.

3rd Quarter, 15:00, 1st and 10 on SF 20, Time Between Snap And Sack: Who Cares, It Was A Flea Flicker

The 49ers start in their basic running formation, with two receivers out wide and a couple tight ends stacked on the line. Miller is in front and to the right of Kendall Hunter, and everything looks fine. Yeah, OK. Right. Then the 49ers tried a flea flicker. Smith pitches to Hunter, and it looks like the play could work. The o-line is holding their blocks though Detroit is swarming that side of the field. Hunter pitches back to Smith, and it might have worked if Vernon Davis held his block for just a bit longer, but Smith starts panicking and eventually goes down. It's a 3-yard loss, but Kyle Vanden Bosch attacked the facemask so yay free yards.

3rd Quarter, 11:38, 1st and 10 on DET 24, Time Between Snap And Sack: 6 secs, Time Between Snap And Pressure: 2 secs

Gore in the backfield, Miller on the right side of the line and just behind it. Tight ends on the line, Michael Crabtree the lone receiver split out wide. Smith under center takes the snap, and it's play action. This time, it's a better play action, but Ndamukong Suh breaks through the right side of the line without any issue whatsoever and chases Smith down. Smith avoids it for a bit but eventually goes down under Corey Williams.