Beat Up Patriots Survive Against Jaguars, Observations
By: Steve Balestrieri
?We didn't compete,? Brady said after the game. ?It was a bad sixty minutes of football.?...
We say the Patriots played below their potential against the the "physical" 49ers, and subsequently against the Jaguars. Maybe so.
But I think the "physical "49ers got the bad end of that exchange. They faced the 92 plays run at them by the "not-so-physical" Pats. The 49ers were beaten up, and then fell on their faces against the Seahawks.
The 49ers outright lost Manningham, and Justin Smith and Terrel Brown and Vernon Davis. Two tried to go against the SeaHawks, but soon departed. But it wasn't just those directly injured. Others were playing but were nowhere near their usual selves. Frank Gore had a way below subpar game. Vernon Davis was too injured, and sat down. Ahmad Brooks did nothing, far below his usual output. Aldon Smith fangs as a pass rusher have been neutralized. It was the two some of Justin and Alston, side by side, that created their "awesome" pass rush, by playing "games" and "stunts" to free up. But no more.
So who got the bad end of that game? I thinkg the 49ers had a Phyric Victory.
The Pats suffered in that game too. Aquib has a hip pointer. He hoped to rest against the Jags, but ended up going in to play. Alfonzo Dennard sat out the Jag game with his spained knee. Deon Branch was recalled to replace Stallworth. If it was early in the season, Stallorth would have had the 4-6 weeks to recover but at this stage of the season, he wouldn't be healthy even in the Superbowl, so he was put on IR.
But the Pats recovered enough to beat the Jaguars. The 49ers turned in a big fat goose egg yielding 42 points ot their Division opponents, and potentially losing the Divsion title to them this next week.
So who is really the most "physical" team?
