Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz held a Twitter contest last summer for fans to come up with a nickname for his defensive line. The winner: Silver Crush.
The unit didn't crush anything in Sunday's27-19 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, and left tackle Joe Staley thinks the Lions' front four is extremely overrated.
"They didn't want any part of us up front," Staley told Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. "Look at the game. We killed them. Every single pressure they got was cheap. It was on a keep or something like that. They weren't beating us one on one. We ran for about 200 yards (148 yards) on the so-called best D-line in all of football."
Staley added that he's never been impressed by the Lions' defensive line. Nor should he be. The Lions are 0-3 against the 49ers since coach Jim Schwartz took over in 2009.
"They think highly of themselves," 49ers right tackle Anthony Davis said. "I heard they said they were the best D-line in the league or something. I feel that's disrespectful to other good defensive lines."
It's hard to argue against the thought. Ndamukong Suh, Kyle Vanden Bosch and Cliff Avril do like to sing their own praises. But the Lions are going to need a few wins over name teams before the bravado turns into a running joke.
Follow Kareem Copeland on Twitter @kareemcopeland.
