The New England Patriots (7-2) will visit Levi’s Stadium for the first time as the San Francisco 49ers (1-8) are hosting them at home for a late Sunday afternoon game. No game should be taken lightly regardless of what their season record may look like because of course anything is possible.
The 49ers’ only victory was week one against the Los Angeles Rams where they shut them out 28-0. From there it’s been nothing but a downward spiral when it comes to the success of the team, the position at quarterback and also the spotlight being heavily on Colin Kaepernick. Although San Francisco basically ranks close to, if not already, last in offensive and defensive stats, it has been nothing but the Kaepernick show from the start which is a complete distraction.
It began with Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem, inspiring others to do the same. Another incident involved his socks showing police as “pigs”. Now currently, after all, his media representation about what he believes and stands for, he didn’t even bother to vote in this year’s election. The blame can’t be 100 percent on him since this is a team sport, but you have to wonder how other players feel putting their all on the field just for one person to have sole attention and it’s no relation to football.
New England is coming off a tough loss at home against the Seattle Seahawks, after failing to get in the end zone on the one-yard line. On fourth down, Tom Brady threw to Rob Gronkowski who appeared to be interfered with but the pass was incomplete and no flag was thrown, Seattle won 31-24. Brady was held to zero touchdowns and threw his first interception of the season. Gronkowski is out for this match-up on Sunday after not being cleared to travel via plane.
The Patriots have been without Gronk before earlier this season with a hamstring injury, which gave Martellus Bennett the number one spot. When it comes to the Patriots’ offense this season, there hasn’t been too much panic. The determination to be more well-balanced has paid off, giving opponent’s defenses slight confusion as to whether they will run or pass the ball. For New England, their secondary has been their weakness. which was Facing Seattle they unit hea exposed , but not that decent throughout the season. Media speculation has said that the trade of Jamie Collins to the Cleveland Browns has shown in their defensive efforts, but Seattle was the first game without him, so I suggest more time is needed before that evaluation.
Prediction:
Even without Gronkowski, Patriots should dominate. With a win here, they’ll finish with a record of .500 or better for the 16th consecutive year.
