Madden 16 Simulation Saturday: 49ers-Lions, Week 16

The 49ers come into this game with a Madden ranking of 79, while the Lions come in at 77. This is after I've shuffled rosters, and yes, put Jarryd Hayne into the depth chart. It's a strange feelingwhen Madden feels the San Francisco 49ers are superior to another team, even stranger when it has used logic to do so.

In any case, let's see how this game shapes up.

1st Quarter:

The 49ers kicked off and the Lions began their possession with a holding penalty. Something tells me this may be a sign of things to come. After a 16 yard pass to Calvin Johnson, Matthew Stafford took a nasty sack from Jaquiski Tartt that led to a fumble the safety managed to snatch up. Given how Tartt is basically the Juggernaut, I have no problem believing this play could happen.

The recovery let the offense start on the Lions 40 yard line. The team ran Mike Davis several times for 4-4 yards a clip until hitting the 15 yard line. Blaine Gabbert nailed DeAndrew White with a lazer dart for a touchdown.

Score: 7-0, 49ers

The Lions offense continued their ugly showing by getting numerous penalties. Even grosser was the 49ers would give the yardage back with penalites of their own. If it werent for a 20 yard pass to Eric Ebron, this would have been the biggest standstill I've ever seen. Once crossing the 49ers 30 yard line, Joique Bell took a nasty hit from the Juggernaut Jaquiski Tartt and fumbled the ball. Eric Reid recovered the loose ball and the 49ers get another turnover.

It didn't last very long though, on Blaine Gabbert's second play, he threw an interception to James Ihedigbo, allowing the Lions to continue their drive.

The Lions deployed a rushing attack led by Theo Riddick. The runs were stopped with a brief 15 yard pass to Calvin Johnson, and then Riddick finished things off for a touchdown.

Score 7-7, TIE

The 49ers received the ball and had a nice 15 yard pass to Torrey Smith to end the quarter.

2nd Quarter:

The 49ers went back to the running game on offense and crossed midfield with a nice pass to Vance McDonald to hit the 39 yard line. Blaine Gabbert, unfortnately took a sack for an 8 yard loss which led to a punt a few plays later, pinning the lions on their own 5 yard line. The next posession went 3 and out including a nasty hit on Matthew Stafford that took him out of the game in favor of Dan Orlovsky and the ball went back to the 49ers. After a couple of runs, the 49ers elected to kick a 55 yard field goal which was missed by Phil Dawson.

Both teams traded 3 and outs, and the ball went back to Detroit. On 2nd and 10, Orlovsky threw an interception to Kenneth Acker, for a 19 yard return on the Lions 23 yard line.

Blaine Gabbert made quick work of the Lions defense, hitting Anquan Boldin for 19 yards and finishing things with a pass to Quinton Patton for 3 yards to finish the quarter.

Score 14-7, 49ers

3rd Quarter:

The 49ers received and had an ugly 3 and out, sending the ball back to Detroit. Despite moving the ball downfield in the passing game with Golden Tate and racking up two first downs, Orlovsky threw an interception on 2nd and 10 to none other than the Juggernaut Jaquiski Tartt, putting the 49er offense on their own 30 yard line.

The interception only led to another punt back to the Lions 20 yard line. Calvin Johnson and Theo Riddick helped move the ball down the field via passes, but another Riddick fumble at the San Francisco 43 resulted in another turnover.

The 49ers went run, run, run, and run again to hit the Lions 35 yard line and close out the quarter.

4th Quarter:

Blaine Gabbert took a nasty sack on 3rd and 6 to end the 49ers hopes of another touchdown. Phil Dawson came in for the save.

Score 17-7, 49ers

Orlovsky managed to hit Corey Fuller twice for some nice gains into San Francisco territory. Unfortunately, the Lions offense stalled and Matt Prater failed to kick a 55 yard field goal.

the 49ers went 3 and out and the Lions offense went for it on 4th and 17 on their own 20 yard line. They failed. The conversion allowed for the Jarryd Hayne show to have another episode. Well, for a nice 12 yard run anyways. Blaine Gabbert nailed DeAndrew White right after for a touchdown and this game is out of reach for the other bad team. 2:25 to go.

Score 24-7, 49ers

The Lions went 3 and out and oddly, punted rather than go for it on 4th down. Madden logic reared it's ugly head when at 1:27, Blaine Gabbert threw the ball...and an interception to James Ihedigbo (why would anyone throw it there?).

Orlovsky threw a nice pass to Eric Ebron to get the Lions to the San Francisco 10 yard line.Unfortunately, 3 repeated incompletions to Calvin Johnson and a sack put an end to any more touchdowns in the Lions' future.

The 49ers took the ball with 20 seconds left and began to run the clock out with a simple rush by Kendall Gaskins. The Lions never used a single timeout in the half.

Final Score: 24-7, 49ers

Final Thoughts:

While I don't think Matthew Stafford will get pulled due to injury, I do see something like this happening: A comedy of errors where there are multiple turnovers and two bad teams playing a very entertaining game. I doubt the Lions fumble the ball as much as they do in this game, but who knows.

For those of you hoping for draft positioning, you better hope it doesn't turn out like this.