I guess there was a carry over from the euphoria vs. texans.  Unfortunately, the 49ers did all the things that the Patriots were supposed to do.
They established a running game, lengthened the field, created turnovers, and made plays when they needed to.  Their OL created enough pressure
to bother Brady, and the Patriots couldn't complete passess or hold onto the football early in the game.  Homers will likely complain about the refereeing
or how the Patriots beat themselves. The Niners lived up to their #2 ranked run d. They also negated screen passes because they got pressure from
3-4 guys.

Last week, the Patriots got away with two fumbles. Not so lucky this week. The weather obviously had an affect on both teams, but the 49ers capitalized on
the Patriot errors.  I'd give the edge to Harbaugh on the coaching side of things. All that kharma had a boomerang effect from last week, and the luck reversed for this game.

Ridley better get his head and hands straight in a hurry. Vereen too. The increase in giveaways the last two games is a little bit of a concern. Patriots need to protect
the ball and go back to ballhawking skills.

The defense did a respectable job keeping the Patriots in the game and kept the niners at bay so the offense could have a chance to come back. And they did, just a little
too late.

The Niners should have put the Patriots away earlier, but they played vanilla defense starting the 3rd Q and gave the Patriots the middle
of the field.

The Patriots were in the drivers seat for the #2 seed. Easy come, easy go. Denver is likely to win their last two games.

Kudos to the Niners. They were better this one game. For almost 3/4 of the game, the niners made the Patriots look like pretenders.

More like...

"Patriots turn the ball over 4 times, play as horribly as they could for 2.5 quarters, and still nearly pull out a victory."

The Pats STs lost this. That is all.

In response to vertigho's comment:

+1

Sorry man, but blowing a 28 point lead does NOT make the other team look like pretenders in any way.  If anything it showed the Patriots are NEVER out of a game.  I think other teams around the league will see this and know that a 28 point lead on Pats means nothing.

That said, it sucks they lost.  They will most likely be hosting a WC game and if they win that, heading to Denver for another classic Manning / Brady showdown. 

special teams and arrington played like crap....same can be said about ridley and vereen

Was this written at halftime and then edited later because the headline is ridiculous.

In response to BubbaInHawaii's comment:

Yeah, giving up 34 points, which is 20 points above their average, shows that they lived up to that #2 defensive ranking.  At least the Pats almost scored their average points on offense.

 

OK, not so simple.

The niners simultaneously got a push on the D-line, blanketed the recievers, and got into the backfield to disrupt screens....until they exhausted themselves. No team can keep that up.

Unfortunatley this did not happen until the 2nd half due to numerous turnovers and lots of time off the field in the first half for TB and Co.

The Defense made some key stops but also gave up some big plays. Credit SF for taking what was being given.

This was a strange game. As usual determined by fewest mistakes. Special teams were huge for SF..the PAts started too deep in their own territory too much and gave up the big return at the wrong time.

No reason NE cannot beat these guys if they meet in the SB.

 

The Patriots played well in the second half. After burying themselves in a hole after the offense played horribly in the first half, they did an amazing job getting back into the game the second half.  The defense had a much better game than the offense.

I think this loss was actually a good thing.  Being highly seeded hasn't proven to be that valuable.  The Pat's ability to stage such a comeback is impressive.  This loss could be the single factor that carries them to another SB.  Going forward the team is more likely to give 100% for 60 minutes.   My biggest fear was complacency.  The beat down of Texans made the team lay back for most of last night's game.  I don't see this happening again.

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If the Pats offense did anything in the first half, it's a different game. I think it shows why they like to defer the coin toss. The offense seems to have a hard time getting their rhythm when they get the ball first, not sure why that is. But it lasted the whole half and into the 3rd quarter. Once they got it, they were nearly unstoppable. 

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In response to BannedOnTheRun--1918's comment:

Another genius reply. Your mom must be so proud of you. Oh I hear her calling, you Crunchberries are ready.

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surprised he wasn't flagged for it and his continuous rant afterwards. THAT official, Huckabe (spelling) is so full of himself. I remember the 'it's about me' comments a few days ago.

In response to BabeParilli's comment:

Agreed put them in a hole and killed momentum after almost every @$$#%@ punt and killed momentum after getting even.

I'm a Niners fan but thought the Pats O line were real good in the 2nd half.. For the most part they gave Brady plenty of time.. Alton Smith was negated which isn't easy.. As a Niner fan I am thrilled that the kid came in here on a bad weather night and threw 4 TD's and played pretty poised (other than issues with handling snaps.. It was an incredible comeback for the pats which shows you can never have enought ot put them away. The Niners should have put them away in the first quarter.. squandered many chances. Oh well for me a win is a win.. Until we meet again

This game was a great preview to this years Super Bowl.  Yes the Patriots laid an egg for most of the game however; fought their way back which was nice to see.   When the Patriots see the 49ers in Feb, they should have a healthy Gronk back and that will make a huge difference.   I look forward to seeing the Patriots in the playoffs again!

An additional bonus this year is that the Giants are not going to be in the playoffs

Pretenders? They came from 31-3 down, ran up 34 points and over 500 yds against the best defense in the NFL while playing a sloppy game not thier best. Im sure the Niners boards are saying "great win, but is there a question about our defense?". Gronk will be back soon, and BB will make adjustments. Just be thankful that wasnt the SB, and they CAN make adjustments.

In response to bostonboston's comment:

Maybe no playoffs for NY but not in the SB for sure. NY are the ones that are pretenders this year. If they lose Sunday, and Dal/Wash both win, its going to be problematic for them to get in the PS. Haha......

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In response to BannedOnTheRun--1918's comment:

I think it's awesome that you pink hatters have to root for someone else to beat the GIANTS because your team can't!!

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I think it's pretty sad and pathetic that a Jets fan has to root for the other New York team to make the pain of 43 (soon to be 44) years go away. Jokes over dude, nobody is fooled.

In response to BannedOnTheRun--1918's comment:

I think it's awesome that you pink hatters have to root for someone else to beat the GIANTS because your team can't!!

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Facts are facts freind, face them. Is there someting I said above that is not true? No? Oh, I see--THAT is why you reacted defensively. I appologize. I think its equally awesome that you NY fans like to come on a Boston forum and troll only when you win or NE loses because your team (as predicted) sucks this year.