Official Niners @ Pats postgame thread

[robbomango]

Great game everyone. The game shaved about 10 years off my life but dang that was something else. Hope there wasn't too many significant injuries on either side.

Probably more injuries to fans on both sides suffering heart attacks, lol. I have white hair and no finger nails for a while but great game, congrats on the W.

 

[BadMoFo]

I am not sure the worry over the Broncos. Pats match up well with them. Playing the Steelers would worry me more.

Exactly. Steelers have an offense that can put up points and Big Ben is still capable of leading his team to late game wins (not today). Plus their defense always seems to make clutch plays even though i don't consider them as elite as before.

 

[SVN]

Troy Brown :The concerning part is that they seem to struggle against physical teams like the giants at least early and this yr vs the seahawks and now 49ers

 

[Joker]

what everyone seems to be missing or just don't care about is..this game was tied...and the KO came down at the two near the sideline...and STILL it got returned to OUR 38....that was the pin that popped the balloon....

 

[SVN]

what everyone seems to be missing or just don't care about is..this game was tied...and the KO came down at the two near the sideline...and STILL it got returned to OUR 38....that was the pin that popped the balloon....

well ..that plus the back to back sacks.

 

[Joker]

Troy Brown :The concerning part is that they seem to struggle against physical teams like the giants at least early and this yr vs the seahawks and now 49ers

in the 2nd quarter on one drive, Brady threw three times ...all three hit receivers in stride right in their hands...two of them would have been easy first downs...3 and out....WHAT PHYSICAL????????..they dropped a ton of easy balls in the game....I'd hazard a guess and say the weather had an adverse effect...but that's not allowed here...it has to be "bad! outmuscled!!weak!!!not tough!!!"...blah blah blah..the same bogus "not physical" tag that the soccer moms and Bogus have been peddling for 12 years

 

[robbomango]

The game was 31-31 toward the end and we lost it, everything before that seems irrelevant IMO.

 

[NSPF]

No question in my mind who the better team was tonight. The Niners needed about a thousand one in a million plays to win that game, and that's with our second best player out. If we see them again it won't be close. After tonight I am absolutely convinced that the Patriots will be this year's Super Bowl champions.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

BJGE has 3 fumbles on the season....

And two of them was on a night when the ball was as slippery as a greased piglet, he wasnt the only one having trouble holding on to the ball tonight either.

 

[Sciz]

I know a lot of people are pointing out the Gronk factor, but I think the Pats could have really used Cunningham tonight too. He'll be back for the games that count.

 

[SVN]

I know a lot of people are pointing out the Gronk factor, but I think the Pats could have really used Cunningham tonight too. He'll be back for the games that count.

OTOH the dennard injury could be a blow .

 

[BadMoFo]

in the 2nd quarter on one drive, Brady threw three times ...all three hit receivers in stride right in their hands...two of them would have been easy first downs...3 and out....WHAT PHYSICAL????????..they dropped a ton of easy balls in the game....I'd hazard a guess and say the weather had an adverse effect...but that's not allowed here...it has to be "bad! outmuscled!!weak!!!not tough!!!"...blah blah blah..the same bogus "not physical" tag that the soccer moms and Bogus have been peddling for 12 years

I guess the texans or broncos aren't physical anymore. We rack up 520 yards and 34 points, but 4 turnovers, on the Niners and lose and it's cause we're not physical.

 

[ATippett56]

OTOH the dennard injury could be a blow .

I don't trust Kyle Arrington as one of the two starting cornerbacks, especially in the AFC Playoffs.

 

[JMC00]

Three games where the special teams was a big factor on why they lost

Arizona- Blocked punt that puts them on the 1
Seattle- Washington return to the 43
49ers- James run back, holding that puts them back instead of being at the 18

And of course one of 49ers borderline illegal block knocks Dennard out of the game. Because had he been, Crabtree is stopped right where he catches the ball.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I know a lot of people are pointing out the Gronk factor, but I think the Pats could have really used Cunningham tonight too. He'll be back for the games that count.

Proposition: the talent difference between Patriots TEs with a healthy GRONKnandez and any other TE unit in the league is greater than any team can boast at any other position, including QB.

In other words, not saying Cunningham wouldn't help, merely that a healthy GRONKnandez means much more.

 

[robbomango]

Physical???

 

[jnug]

I would agree that the Pats at least IMO did not lose this game on physicality. However they are not the more physical team in virtually any game that they play. There "thing" is to keep the other team's defense out there and eventually exhaust them to the point where the opponent can no longer be more physical than they are.

I also did not like the way their D-linemen got away with murder on stunts holding the O-linemen in so that they could not move. That is an old NY Giants trick...when I say OLD I mean all the way back to the days of Andy Robistelli. You would think the officials would have caught up to that act.

As I said earlier, I think the Pats are the class of the AFC and I like their chances against any AFL team in a post season game no matter where it is played as long as they have Gronk and can sprint away before the Pats obvious weaknesses become critical in deciding a win or a lose.

The Pats teams play is for one thing, horrific. Without Edelman, they have nobody that can return punts. at his age, all Welker brings to the table on punt returns is ball security. Apparently they have nobody that can block without holding on punts either.

The other thing I found disconcerting about this game was the Pats discipline both on teams and on defense. On defense against a team with a real running attack, safeties and corners were continually taking odd routes to ball carriers and not taking care of their specific assignments against the run. In fact their performance on that kick off return when the game was tied was similar. Instead of staying in their lanes and taking on interference when they had the chance they got out of their lanes and tried to run around the interference....horrible for a kick coverage team. Also those are the kinds of plays that make you question their ability to keep up with a more physical team. Seeing guys avoid contact is not encouraging.

 

[Sciz]

Proposition: the talent difference between Patriots TEs with a healthy GRONKnandez and any other TE unit in the league is greater than any team can boast at any other position, including QB.

In other words, not saying Cunningham wouldn't help, merely that a healthy GRONKnandez means much more.

Definitely. But I'll propose that the amount that Cunningham would have helped relative to the number of posts about how Cunningham would have helped is greater than the amount that Gronk would have helped relative to the number of posts about how Gronk would have helped

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Definitely. But I'll propose that the amount that Cunningham would have helped relative to the number of posts about how Cunningham would have helped is greater than the amount that Gronk would have helped relative to the number of posts about how Gronk would have helped

It was . . . until you made this post.

Seriously, though, I agree that Cunningham would have helped quite a bit.

 

[Deus Irae]

Definitely. But I'll propose that the amount that Cunningham would have helped relative to the number of posts about how Cunningham would have helped is greater than the amount that Gronk would have helped relative to the number of posts about how Gronk would have helped

I'm not sure what you think Cunningham could have done tonight, but helping against the run wasn't going to happen, and that means that he wasn't going to be out there much.