Sunday night, following an extremely sloppy performance by the usually disciplined Patriots, Wilfork summed it up best: "... tonight, we just weren't the Patriots."
Fair enough. In a 41-34 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Patriots executed poorly on all the things they typically do well. (photo: Karen Cardoza, Flickr)
The Patriots lead the NFL in turnover differential, yet they turned it over four times and got just two takeaways.
New England leads the league in first half points, but it scored just three before the break against San Francisco.
The Patriots boast an NFL-best third-down conversion rate, yet they converted on just two of 15 third downs.
"Obviously we just didn’t do anything well enough tonight to win," Belichick said after the game. "It starts with me – didn’t do a good job of coaching, didn’t coach well, we didn’t play well, we weren’t good on offense, weren’t good on defense, weren’t good enough on special teams.
"They just did a better job than we did. We just have to perform better than that. We didn’t so that’s the result. We just didn’t do a good job tonight, it’s as simple as that."
With the Patriots' consistency this season, their performance Sunday night was the exception and not the rule. However, AFC playoff teams will be spending ample time studying tape of what the 49ers were doing for most of the game.
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With the Patriots' consistency this season, their performance Sunday night was the exception and not the rule. However, AFC playoff teams will be spending ample time studying tape of what the 49ers were doing for most of the game.
Follow Nick @NickStDenis
Follow AFC East Daily @AFCEastDaily
