When the NFL season is over, the 49ers and Cowboys might be all anyone remembers. Until then, there are some very unpredictable things going on worth noting and pondering.
At the one-quarter pole, who could have guessed?
The Rams are leading the 49ers in the NFC West.
Drew Bledsoe is the only starting quarterback who hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass.
The Patriots have scored only one touchdown.
Eric Metcalf has caught more passes than Jerry Rice and anyone else in the league.
Jim Harbaugh’s passer rating is ahead of Steve Young’s and everybody else’s in the league.
Chris Chandler and Dan Marino have nearly identical stats.
Vinny Testaverde has thrown twice as many touchdown passes as John Elway, four times as many as Jim Kelly.
Testaverde has thrown only one interception.
Jeff Blake has thrown for more yards and more touchdowns than Troy Aikman.
The Chiefs have the same 3-1 record without Joe Montana as they did with him.
Robert Smith is outrunning Barry Sanders.
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Brett Favre really doesn’t miss old what’s his name.
Jim Flanigan has as many sacks as Reggie White, 4 1/2.
Bruce Smith doesn’t have any sacks at all.
The Steelers have 17 giveaways; the Rams have none.
Chris Gardocki and 25 others are out-punting Todd Sauerbrun.
Buddy Ryan’s Cardinals are the worst in the league at stopping the run and everybody knows nobody runs on Buddy’s defenses.
Jacksonville’s defense (17th) outranks the Bears (20th).
Carolina’s defense (23d) outranks the Vikings (26th).
The Oilers and Rams already have matched last year’s win totals.
Andre Rison has caught only nine passes and hasn’t complained.
After losing top draft pick Ki-Jana Carter, the Bengals still have the third-ranked offense in the league behind the 49ers and Cowboys, thanks to Blake.
Strangest of all is how the Lions upset the 49ers on Monday night using Barry Sanders as a decoy. It was unusual for the 49ers to lose in the first place. For the Lions to win with Sanders gaining only 24 yards in 17 carries was almost unprecedented. Until the last field-goal winning, time-killing drive, Sanders had carried only 11 times for 12 yards, banging into linebacker Ken Norton Jr. in the backfield on nearly every attempt.
“Their linebackers were very close to the line of scrimmage. Our game plan was to keep the field spread wide open and throw it,” coach Wayne Fontes said.
“They conceded the running game somewhat,” 49ers coach George Seifert said.
It is always the Lions’ game plan to try to win when teams stuff Sanders. But only once before in seven years has it worked. Before Monday night, Sanders had been held to fewer than 40 yards nine times in his career. A win over New Orleans in 1990 was the only victory they had to show for it.
This time, quarterback Scott Mitchell found wide receivers Brett Perriman and Herman Moore and the Lions rediscovered tight end Ron Hall to break their winless streak.
“We didn’t make any plays before,” Fontes said. “This time, we made plays and they came from the quarterback.”
“They kind of ran our offense on us,” Seifert said.
If the game marked a turning point for the Lions, it also revealed a flaw in the 49ers that could prove telling. Their defense is trying to show it can excel without Deion Sanders, but cornerback Marquez Pope was far from infallible as Perriman burned him for nine catches.
“We felt there was a mismatch there. He is not really a cornerback,” Mitchell admitted.
The 49ers also don’t have much of a pass rush, especially outside, which only exacerbates the problem at cornerback.
A year ago, the 49ers overcame a 14-0 deficit to the Lions in the Silverdome to win 27-21 and later pointed to that game as the defining week in their season. If they fall short of a championship this year, they will be able to do the same thing.
“They thought we were vulnerable to throwing the ball and they were very effective with it,” Seifert said.