If the New England Patriots thought it was tough playing against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on Thursday Night Football, then traveling across the country to take on the San Francisco 49ers will be an even bigger challenge. This team might be completely injured on both sides of the ball, but they still have one of the most stacked rosters in the league and are the defending NFC champions for a reason. San Francisco will be without Christian McCaffrey, Javon Hargrave, and most likely Deebo Samuel. However, there are plenty more players that could make things extremely difficult for the Patriots at 4:05 PM ET. Let’s look at the five biggest things to pay attention to on Sunday and see how the Patriots can keep things relatively close and some weaknesses that San Francisco can take advantage of when the clock begins.
Patriots Week 4 Preview
1. Both Teams Need to End Losing Streaks
It is a little crazy that both the Patriots and 49ers will have the same record entering Sunday afternoon, but at some point in time, one of them is going to have a bounce-back victory. The 49ers at least played with some fight and passion. Without several key starters on offense, Brock Purdy still threw for over 290 yards and three touchdowns. Jauan Jennings came up with all three of those scores and had the best game of his life with 175 yards on eleven catches. Every time that Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams kept up, the 49ers offense did whatever they could to get points on the board, but they completely fell apart down the stretch. A missed field goal from Jake Moody followed by a brutal drop by Ronnie Bell on back-to-back possessions allowed LA to capitalize on the opportunities and steal a 27-24 victory. After the 49ers’ defense lost Javon Hargrave for the rest of the season to a torn biceps, their secondary got completely exposed and the pass rush could get next to no pressure on Stafford. Kyren Williams scored all three touchdowns for LA, they committed brutal penalties that allowed the Rams to get further into scoring territory, and it took an electrifying punt return and pass interference by De’Vondre Campbell for Joshua Karty to kick the game-winning field goal from thirty-eight yards out. It’s not shocking to see that when Brandon Staley is in charge of their defense. San Francisco needs a win badly, but the Patriots are coming off a more degrading and humiliating defeat.
On Thursday Night Football, New England got blown out by the New York Jets 24-3 and nothing went right at all. Their defense got shredded by Aaron Rodgers for over 280 yards and two touchdowns, the offensive line gave up seven sacks and twenty-two pressures, and neither Jacoby Brissett nor Drake Maye could throw for 100 yards. Every single flaw that the Patriots had heading into the season got completely exposed on prime-time television. Their offensive line is both injured and incompetent, the depth on the secondary is not great, and the wide receivers cannot get open or go downfield. From the surface, their next game against the 49ers should be another blowout loss. However, there are a few things that could prevent this from happening.
2. Will this Pats Passing Game Finally Come Alive?
At some point in time, these New England wide receivers are going to have to make some type of impact in an NFL game. It wasn’t likely that their potential would be unlocked against the Jets since they have one of the best secondaries in the league, but the 49ers have clearly proven that this certain area is not exactly a big strength of theirs. One of these wide receivers, even Kayshon Boutte and Tyquan Thornton need to keep this San Francisco defense on their heels. The offensive line woes are what they are, but if this passing game can actually create consistent separation, then Brissett will have a cleaner pocket than he did the week before. Until the numbers increase and these wide receivers show that they are continuing to improve, then this is going to be an area that will be emphasized game after game. This matchup might look lob-sided on paper, but if the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams can play well against this 49ers’ defense, there is no reason why the New England Patriots should not either.
3. Brandon Aiyuk is in a Slump, But Not Jauan Jennings
One particular detail that Patriots fans could be excited about on Sunday is where their top cornerback Christian Gonzalez will line up for most of the afternoon. The 49ers are going to most likely play without Deebo due to a calf injury, but they still have an extremely reliable tight end in George Kittle and a big playmaker in Brandon Aiyuk. However, the big issue is that the latter has been in a slump through the first three weeks of the season. He began the season with two brutal drops against the New York Jets and finished the night with as many catches, then totaled just under forty-five yards the following week against Minnesota, and then had just forty-eight receiving yards against LA. The number of catches might have increased in that span, so there is a strong chance that a breakout game could take place, but not if Gonzalez is the corner lined up against him 90% of the time. If Gonzalez is lined up against Aiyuk, then that means somebody will have to take on the most underrated wide receiver on the 49ers, Jennings. After the best game of his life against the Rams, he is hoping to pick up where he left off against a Patriots defense that showed no resistance on Thursday Night Football without their best middle linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley. This Patriots cornerback group has proven that they are more thin at their position than expected at the beginning of the year. Both Marcus Jones and Alex Austin have struggled, so even if Aiyuk gets slowed down and contained, then that means Jennings is going to have more space and freedom on the field.
4. Nick Bosa and Leonard Floyd vs. The Patriots O Line
If there is one thing that will be a guaranteed nightmare for the Patriots’ offense, it is their line having to go up against Nick Bosa and the rest of the 49ers’ defensive line. Hargrave might be out for the season due to a torn pec, but Leonard Floyd is still a very underrated pass rusher who could attack the quarterback on either side of the line. If the rumors are true and the Patriots start their fourth left tackle in as many weeks, then the 49ers already know where to generate the most pressure. Chukwuma Okorafor quit, and Vederian Lowe and Caedan Wallace are both injured, so Demontrey Jacobs could be in line to make his first career start. He is an undrafted second-year player from Grambling State and South Florida, who was on the practice squad before he got late reps against the Jets on Thursday night. The good news is that one of their starting guards Sidy Sow finally returned to practice, so some needed reinforcements will be back in time to try to right the ship. However, Bosa only has two sacks, and this could be the week where he will have one of his more vintage performances. Another thing to point out is that San Francisco has one of the best-run defenses in the league, so if Rhamondre Stevenson gets shut down behind the line of scrimmage, then one can again hope that this Patriots passing game finally looks respectable.
5. What Happens if Brissett Continues to Struggle?
Right now, it would not be right to talk about a quarterback controversy because their offensive line is a disgrace and the receiver group is still a work in progress. However, if Brissett plays worse than he did on Thursday night, then the conversations can begin. The only problem is that it could stunt the development and growth of Maye. The data says that if the team cannot provide a legitimate or respectable supporting quarterback around the face of the franchise, then the worse the guy’s confidence diminishes, which makes his play worse as a result. After the Patriots play the 49ers, they will head back home to play against a Miami team without their starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. When he is not in the lineup, that offense is significantly worse and they lose more games because of that, so maybe this would be a good chance for Maye to get his first legitimate NFL action. This is a very hard question to answer because even if Brissett is not the long-term answer for this football team, then both Jerod Mayo and Elliott Wolf do not want to rush into decisions that could hurt the future of their rookie quarterback. Once the Patriots and 49ers kick off, then there will be more clarity into which direction the team should head into for at least the next week or two.
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