49ers at Patriots

The Patriots are going to be playing the 49ers at home. The Patriots are coming off a game where Cam Newton was hanging on to the ball to long and not seeing open pass catchers, besides the fact that he was inaccurate all game and was under a lot of pressure due to an injured offensive line.

The Patriots only had 2 practices supposedly since the Chiefs game. I get how the banged up offensive line could've been impacted as many were playing out of position in the loss to Denver.

Fans that hyped Newton are now using that to defend the 31 year old, 10 year veteran's poor footwork and throwing mechanics during the loss. 

Sorry, his old Mechanics should've still been okay to win the game, if he's the quarterback that was hyped before the Patriots started changing his mechanics. 

The narrative that his pass catchers are not getting separation went out the window, after tape showed he had guys open on plays he hung on to the football too long with. Whether he didn't trust his arm or didn't see them is debatable. Now, Newton is a starter, dont get me wrong; He's just not a constant passer. 

For the game, the 49ers defense should be able to hold the Patriots offensive to 14. Newton as a passer did not look good through 3/4s of the first half versus Las Vegas and continued to look like a below average passer versus Denver.

Denver gave a blueprint of how to attack Cam. Play man and if the Patriots leave guys in to block, have the guys covering blitz. Make Newton beat you with his arm.

The 49ers are only giving up the 4.1 yards per run and I believe the Patriots run game is not enough to carry the offense, even with Newton carrying the ball 15 times a game. The Patriots just cannot count on the passing game to make a play when needed.

With that, the game is going to come down to how the Patriots defense does against the 49ers offense. My gut says the 49ers will play smart, not make mistakes and put up 22 on the Patriots.  

Now because Cam Newton is an inconsistent quarterback, he is the wildcard but I have no faith that he will play better than he did versus the Raiders or Miami. He should play better than he did versus Denver. Should being the key word.

The Patriots need a quarterback that can throw over 200 yards constantly, that does not appear to be Cam. Cam will have his games, like versus Seattle but those games will just serve to inflate his poor passing stats.

The 49ers need to score a touchdown in the first half, and then just play smart. I believe 4 field goal drives and a touchdown will be good enough to get passed the Patriots. Play ball control offense and keep Cam off the field as long as possible. Make the Patriots have to pass due to time constraints. 

Final score 22-14 San Francisco.