League Admits To Mistake By Official On Sunday
--The NFL acknowledged Tuesday that due to an official's mistake, the 49ers got an extra five yards on a spot after a 40-yard punt return by Ted Ginn, Jr., which set up the winning drive on Sunday. The ball was spotted at the Lions' 35 instead of the 40.
"It's an unfortunate thing," coach Jim Schwartz said. "They do their very best out there and sometimes things happen. The thing that made it difficult, on the same play there was another situation we were talking to the officials about."
Schwartz said there was a blatant block in the back on the return that went unflagged. "I don't think it affected the outcome of the game," he said. "We were still fourth-and-5 and had a chance to stop them. We didn't get that done."
--OLB Justin Durant said he finally feels like he's coming out of the fog. That's what the post-concussion symptoms have felt like these last three weeks. "It's kind of like I was floating around," he said. "It was hard to really pay attention and pick up on stuff. It was rough."
Durant passed an initial round of tests Monday but still didn't practice on Wednesday. He said the symptoms are gone. He said he still needs to go through some exertion tests before he can be cleared for practice. He expects that to happen before Thursday and he's planning on playing Sunday.
--Asked if he saw similarities between his team and the Falcons, Schwartz pointed to the two young quarterbacks (Stafford and Matt Ryan), the big, athletic receivers (Calvin Johnson and Roddy White) and the aggressive and deep defensive lines. But he stopped quickly. "We're still a work in progress and they've been a playoff team," he said. "That's something we aspire to be. I don't want to put ourselves in their category just yet."
--The Lions -- whether it be from the hard play of Ndamukong Suh, the handshake-gate last week between Schwartz and Jim Harbaugh, or any point in between - are getting a reputation of being perhaps a bit nasty.
"We don't worry about how other people describe us," Schwartz said. "We are worried about how we play." Would you describe your team as emotionally edgy? "That's the way football is supposed to be played," he said. "Football isn't a sport where emotion doesn't enter in. It's a long game, a hard game and you need to persevere through. We aspire to play with a lot of emotion. We want our fans to be proud of our effort. We don't take anything for granted."
--Teams all season have tried to use the aggression of the Lions' defensive front as a tool. Wham blocks, counters, reverses, all have been used effectively. Frank Gore's two long runs Sunday were off wham plays. According to Schwartz, the Lions will live with that. "The way we rush the passer, we are going to give up some runs," he said. "The key is holding those runs to 15 or 20 yards rather than 40 or 50 yards. When they break out through our secondary, that's when it's a problem. We didn't do as good a job with that as we had in the past."
--The crowd noise at Ford Field has forced 14 false starts the last two weeks. "No question our fans have done an excellent job disrupting opposing offenses," defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh said. "They still don't realize how much of an impact they make for us. It's exciting. I know I feed off their energy, for sure."
BY THE NUMBERS
5.2 - Average yards per run against the Lions' defense.
428 - Total rushing yards gained by Falcons running back Michael Turner in last two games against the Lions.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"I've been called a dirty player and now it's nasty. I don't care. It means nothing to me. Nasty, dirty, it's the same. You are either playing in the dirt or you are not playing in the dirt. One way or another, it's the same. I don't care." DT Ndamukong Suh.
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