Official Niners @ Pats postgame thread

[PatriotSeven]

Props to Tom our defense, and not so much our special teams.

Tom had one ugly interception tonight, his first, but I think his second was just bad luck with a slick ball bouncing off a receiver's hands. His comeback was truly special. Brady wanted this one bad, beginning with the tackle to stop the touchdown after his first interception.

I also know that giving up 41 points and praising the defense might sound weird but please keep in mind there would be no 28 point comeback without our defense stopping the 49ers highly efficient offense on consecutive possessions.

On top of that our offense turned it over 4 times. The second time around, if we meet again this year, will not result in the same issues. I won't blame the failure of our defense at the end on one missed tackle, because what they did before that was truly outstanding.

So congrats to them for helping us mount this crazy comeback in the second half.

And I will say this. We dominated special teams against the league least year EXCEPT against the Giants. Both losses to the Giants were due to their dominance on special teams. Tonight was no different.

We have got to figure this issue out. Focusing so much on their defense, I once again forgot what it was that the Giants did. If you pull up the special teams stats in those games and tonight you will notice they simply dominated us in field position.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

The refs deserve to get hate for that punt return fumble debacle. So embarrassing and Ted Ginn definitely touched that.

I was in my car when that happened but Zolak and Gil both said it hit Ginn, still havent seen a replay.
Hochuli thinks hes a freaking rock star, he had a worse game than Ridley and the Pats special teams.
We play this team in good weather with Gronk and we'll win.
I couldnt believe the fans leaving the stadium after SF made it 31-3 not to mention the chicken littles that infect the game thread and feel the impulse to start a thread, we dont want to hear you cry like a baby, dont start a thread when things arent going the Pats way.
That is all, 6 in a row to til the Lombardi

 

[juny]

what an amazing effort as the pats almost pulled off the largest regular season comeback. the game was lost due to a horrific start with too many turnovers. the road in the playoffs most likely means 2 road games if they advance, but they still have as a good a chance as anyone else in the AFC.

they probably pull this out if dennard didn't get injured. arrington is a slot CB only, and too bad he was forced to play outside.

just like one other infamous loss, every time SF put the ball on the ground, they seem to get it back.

time to close out the season with 2 wins over some pretty bad teams.

 

[uniform]

I'm more impressed with the team not getting frustrated and engineering a near comeback than disappointed by that dreadful first half. This could have been so much worse.

I wonder how the media will spin this after riding the team's collective jock after the last win. The better team won (49ers), or the "The Patriots are not as good as we thought they were." Both make me cringe. 3 place drop in Power Rankings incoming. jk I don't care about Power Rankings. Looking forward to next week.

 

[Jangles]

Thank goodness for Tom Brady, Lloyd, and Woodhead.

Hernandez and Welker were competing for who could drop the most passes in a game

 

[jnug]

I really don't know why we are harping on the Pats offensive performance in the 2nd half as something super positive when it should be clear to anybody with a set of eyes that the Niners changed up their defense into something of a prevent mode and got burned for it. We did nothing against the Niners regular defense and their D-line seemed to be just toying with us when they were at full strength. Once the Niners went zone and lost a few key guys from their defense, they opened the door a crack and TB walked right in. Then the amount of time the Niners D spent on the field caught up to them and it was on until our ST play and their punter ended things.

That said, I don't think there is any reason to believe the Pats are not the best team in the AFC and should win out. If they have Gronk I like their chances against any of the AFC teams playing anywhere.

However the only thing I saw in tonight's game that gives me hope if the Pats see the Niners in the SB is how gassed the Niners defense got against the hurry up. If the Pats do meet them again I think the only real shot the Pats will have even with Gronk will be to run the Niners right into the ground mixing in the hurry up right from jump street. If their D-line is fully manned again by a SB I doubt we can handle them unless we run them out of gas.

Frankly we are a bit outgunned against the Niners. We have a few better players than they have but their total roster is frankly better than our total roster.

 

[serifyn]

You don't have much to lose now by simply resting your injured players and getting healthy, even if you lose the next two games the worst thing that happens is that you are the 4th seed and play Houston before Denver in the Divisional round, assuming you can get there.

Sit Gronk for as long as he needs and anyone else who is banged up. This next week will serve as your Bye since you aren't going to be seeing another one.

 

[jsull87]

Basically... we came out and made to many mistakes to win the game. the only reason we came even close was the greatness of a QB that basically let us put up 31 points in a quarter against the best d in the NFL.

Brady got little to no help tonight from our D but in all honesty i don't mind this loss too much. It was against a good team and we played shockingly in the 1st half... came out... and played a shocking start of the 3rd.

The basically we rallied which is what i wanted to see and almost pulled off one of the most remarkable comebacks in nfl history.

The only thing that thwarted us in the end is ST and Defense letting us down in two consecutive plays letting the 49rs go the full length of the field. After the D had done brilliantly to get the ball back for Brady those 2 playes were back breakers.

Individually:

Jones and Hernandez aren't 100% last week and this week highlighted this to me as both are elite athletes just playing SO SO atm.

I hope Dennard is ok because Arrington just can't be counted on in big moments. e.g calling a blitz and leaving you on your own.

I honestly think that we would have learned alot from this game and even tho i want to win every game 50-0 i don't mind this loss. Except for it now makes us have a tougher playoff run.

Ridley and Vereen were shown by Woodhead today why he is in the NFL and will remain a Pat... dependability.

Break out game by Lloyd to show he can beat 1 on 1 coverage and get open consistently. He will get some confidence out of this performance.

Solder and the line started poorly but after that 1st series played ok... did let a sack through to kill a drive in the 4th.

Oh well hopefully we can stay healthy and get geared up for this playoff run.

 

[DocHoliday]

1.) If hope nobody is still delusional enough to think Vereen will replace Woodhead ANYTIME soon. If ever.

2.) Bring the Bolden.

3.) The stellar man coverage of the 49ers in the first half demonstrated exactly why we need a stud 3rd WR. Too bad Edelman was out - he would have shredded the secondary.

4.) Notice how Hernandez started playing a lot of the patterns the well covered Welker usually ran, and Welker started moving outside more often. They played Hernandez, who was sort of hurt, in the Welker role because of that role's importance to the offense. We can't let go of Welker, but do we bring in another WR to complement Edelman and make sure this offense doesn't sputter when a TE and a WR go down? I think so. Branch was, as widely predicted, absolutely useless against a team with tight man coverage.

5.) I sort of wanted Chung to play this game. In a game where we were being punched in the mouth, we needed someone to lay the wood. Gregory can cover, but Chung would have laid down some pain.

6.) I love the new tight man D, but it's clear it depends heavily on the starters. Need to have backups that can also play these roles, or else we're forced to switch schemes again when someone is injured!

7.) Hoomanawanui! What a catch - probably because nobody expected him to run downfield, but it's clear why he's on the field more and more. This guy is TE #4 next year, with Ballard #3 if it all shakes out right. Fells is alright, but he's definitely the odd man out.

8.) The offensive line is hurting. The injuries are indeed piling up, and it's clear even Scarnecchia's magic can only go so far. No sacks for Smith, but they were clearly losing at the line of scrimmage. A lesser, slower release QB would have allowed Aldon Smith his record #of sacks.

9.) The defense is really missing Jermaine Cunningham. (Never thought I'd say that). Pass rush was nonexistent until the second half. We definitely need an interior rusher.

10.) What a brilliant move by Harbaugh to move one of his fresh DTs - Francois - to DE to take advantage of the weakened Solder. Smith was gassed, but the out of position Francois was more than enough to kill the comeback drive.

 

[The Gr8est]

Ridley was terrible tonight.. 9 carries for 2.6 ypc and one fumble and another almost-fumble.

In Ridley's defense, that fumble came when a defender drilled his helmet into the ball. Now maybe you can make the case that Ridley should not have had the ball where the helmet could hit it, but no one is holding on when the ball takes a shot like that.

 

[juny]

I did see some positives. We never quit, we cam back from a 28 point hole and tied it with a chance to win. Our ST's play sucked big time tonight. That unit gave the momentum right back to the 49'ers on the ensuing kickoff after we tied it. That is what chaps my behind more than anything. I will say after hanging 31 on the niners tonight I am not worried that much about meeting them in the SB as I was.

don't forget 2 holding penalties on punt returns that pinned the pats back

 

[BradyBranch39]

I still don't know quite what happened there, but think I can add this:
the 49ers depth is incredible.

Also, this was a great tweet:

@FO_ASchatz
When you consider how many of these players were on SF two years ago... Was Mike Singletary the worst head coach in the history of the NFL?

 

[The Brandon Five]

34 points against the best defense in football ? Pretty impressive. On any given Sunday though, 9ers can't beat the ****ty Rams, a team we beat 45-7. Our Defense laid an egg the first 40 minutes, and then our special teams chokes right after we come ALL the way back, which hurts. Lots of moral victories here, Aldon Smith no sacks, coming back from 31-3, defense waking up mid third to cause some 3 and outs (off course they **** the bed after the long KO return).

It's not the D's fault that Matt or Bill dialed up a blitz leaving a journeyman corner (Arrington) one-on-one with Crabtree. That's coaching. Sometimes those gambles pay off but they are high risk. See: Burress TD in SB 42.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

You don't have much to lose now by simply resting your injured players and getting healthy, even if you lose the next two games the worst thing that happens is that you are the 4th seed and play Houston before Denver in the Divisional round, assuming you can get there.

Sit Gronk for as long as he needs and anyone else who is banged up. This next week will serve as your Bye since you aren't going to be seeing another one.

You keep playing for the best seed, #1's a remote possibilty and #2 isnt out of the question just like the team didnt give up tonight you dont give up on the seeding before you play the next game.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

i am going to die young....becasue of the patriots and giving me heart problems....but it could be worse

 

[BradyBranch39]

1.) If hope nobody is still delusional enough to think Vereen will replace Woodhead ANYTIME soon. If ever.

3.) The stellar man coverage of the 49ers in the first half demonstrated exactly why we need a stud 3rd WR. Too bad Edelman was out - he would have shredded the secondary.

4.) Branch was, as widely predicted, absolutely useless against a team with tight man coverage.

1: :rocker:
3: Agree on Edelman. I'll continue to beat the "we're going to miss him dearly" drum
4: Branch was not useless at all. He isn't the Edelman-type guy we need at #3 WR though.

 

[jnug]

Good eyes with regard to the Niner's depth. I reiterate from my last post. We have a few better players than the Niners have but the Niners are a much stronger team full roster against full roster. Will take a hell of a game plan and another stellar performance by TB and Gronk to have a chance against them in a SB.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

You don't have much to lose now by simply resting your injured players and getting healthy, even if you lose the next two games the worst thing that happens is that you are the 4th seed and play Houston before Denver in the Divisional round, assuming you can get there.

Sit Gronk for as long as he needs and anyone else who is banged up. This next week will serve as your Bye since you aren't going to be seeing another one.

There might be a difference between 5 and 6. Plus, a 3 seed gives you a chance to host the AFCCG. I wouldn't say the Colts or Ravens beating Houston is out of the question.

 

[RonnieLott42]

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.

 

[The Brandon Five]

the first 35 minutes or so couldn't have played out worse for us yet we were able to come back and tie it. My thoughts are pretty simple.

You saw all of the first 35 minutes? We had 20 minutes of Obama talking at a memorial service in Newton on the local NBC affiliate in Western MA.