Practice is done for the day for both the 49ers and Eagles and we've got the list of DNPs and limited participation folks:

49ers
Did not Participate in Practice
RB Frank Gore - Coach's decision
LB Roderick Green - Stomach Virus
CB Walt Harris - Coach's decision
OT Jonas Jennings - Shoulder
LB Manny Lawson - Hamstring
SS Michael Lewis - Elbow

Eagles
Did not Participate in Practice
G Shawn Andrews - Back
DE Juqua Parker - Knee
S J.R. Reed - Hamstring/Ankle
RB Brian Westbrook - Rib/Ankle

Limited Participation in Practice
WR Reggie Brown - Groin

Full Participation in Practice
DE Victor Abiamiri - Wrist
WR Kevin Curtis - Hernia
S Quintin Demps - Knee
DE Darren Howard - Abdomen
RB Dan Klecko - Hand
QB Donovan McNabb - Chest
TE L.J. Smith - Back

While Rotoworld isn't my bible (see the Houshmanzadeh rumors), on general injury info they're usually pretty reliable.  Kevin Curtis has been out all year and is not really expected back full time until after their Week 7 bye.  However, Rotoworld did mention he might play in a limited role this weekend.  The 49ers will have plenty else to worry about aside from Curtis.

Frank Gore and Walt Harris continue their weekly tradition of no practice on Wednesdays.  Michael Lewis is expected to be available on Sunday and this is more precautionary.  Other than that, nothing too surprising.

I'm posting this in part in response to the Roy Williams on the Block FanPost, but more because of the general offensive issues that seem to be plaguing the team.  On Sunday, the 49ers had three touchdown drives, capped by touchdown passes from J.T. O'Sullivan to Frank Gore and twice to Isaac Bruce.  However, most of the rest of the game saw balls overthrown, underthrown and dropped by receivers.

It's fitting that Gore and Bruce made the three touchdown catches because they have been our most consistent weapons to date.  Isaac Bruce may be slowing with age, but he can still ran great routes and get himself open when need be.  Frank Gore continues to be a dual running/receiving threat and I thought his touchdown grab on Sunday was a pretty great catch considering he's a running back and was covered rather well.

The question is the rest of the receiving corp.  As pointed out in the game thread, the announcers thought the offense would improve over the course of the season as the quarterback and wide receivers got more and more on the same page.  The problem with that is sometimes it appears as though the receivers actually are on the same page, but the cosistency is a problem. 

Arnaz Battle had his huge game two Sundays ago.  Bryant Johnson has not had a huge game but makes some solid contributions at times.  We won't get into Vernon Davis because that's just turning into a clusterf#%k of epic proportions.  But looking at Johnson and Battle, what really is the issue?  In that Roy Williams diary, sfgfan made a good point when he said "A WR only disappears if the QB doesn’t see them, they’re not in the right place at the right time, or if they don’t create enough separation. I think Johnson and Battle are problem falling victim to the latter two more than the first."

I agree with that because even though JTO is getting run around his interceptions have come when he's had time to stare down some of those guys.  If guys aren't in the right place at the right time, I'd imagine that would go towards the color guys argument that the passing game will improve over time.  Is that true, or would people argue our receivers are just not getting separation?

I still think our receiving corps is good enough as is.  Of course adding Roy Williams wouldn't exactly hurt the offense.  Williams spent two years in a Martz offense so I'd imagine he could pick it back up quickly enough.  However, I also don't think we want to be giving up multiple draft picks for a guy who's a free agent after this year.  Even with a contract extension I rarely think trading multiple draft picks is a good idea (see Stokes, J.J.).

Every so often I roll out Nolan quotes, post-game quotes and similar whatnot.  I thought I'd make the post-game quotes a more regular feature as I receive them.  Even with all the coach-speak and athlete cliches, we can probably get a little context.  Also, I'll throw in my thoughts if anything jumps out.  I'll make sure and set it off as my own opinion.

HEAD COACH MIKE NOLAN
On the game as a whole: “Okay, defensively we’ve got to get off the field better, obviously. (We) didn’t do a good job there. And offensively, we definitely have to stay on the field. We’ve got to convert on third down. Special teams was uneventful. There wasn’t much to report there. But that’s what led to the loss: gave them another big pass, uncharacteristic of our secondary. But two weeks in a row, I’m not going to say it is becoming characteristic, but we got the quarterback on a blitz and he just unloads it deep and beats us.”

The cliche of the day: “I know we brought pressure. It’s a good example of getting five sacks. (I know) how excited people get about sacks and how they think they’re directly related to winning. That should give you a great example that it really isn’t. To win is all about having more points than the other team. It gets down to staying on the field offensively on third down and getting off on defense, and a lot of other things but it’s never one area.”

Fooch: Oh Coach Nolan...I've joked about coach/athlete cliches including scoring more points than the other team but I've never seen somebody use the phrase "having more points than the other team."  Really bringing his A-game.

On deactiving Roderick Green and activating Marcus Hudson: “With Rod I thought that I’d just let Tully (Banta-Cain) have the opportunity. I thought that it was important to get (Marcus Hudson) up for the special teams as well. So, Hudson did the special teams. He’s a good special teams player. I felt we’d need him for the game. And Tully had a good week. I thought we’d inspire him and see if he would do something. But I’ll look at the film, but he…again from a pass rush standpoint, I don’t know. I guess I shouldn’t say it before I know. We were okay in that area, like I said, five sacks, but we didn’t win the game.

FRANK GORE
On the offenses performance: “We just went out today flat. We went out flat as a team. We just have to go out there and stick together and play hard. We can’t give up. We just have to keep playing hard.”

Fooch: I realize a 16-game, 4-month long season can be grueling and I certainly don't know enough as a fan to get what players go through.  However, I still find it amazing when players talk about how their team came out flat.  In baseball I can see that happening because we're talking about 162 games where a single loss usually won't sink your season.  But when you're playing 16 games and each one is so important, it's a little tough to swallow.

J.T. O'Sullivan, Takeo Spikes, Nate Clements and Tully Banta-Cain after the jump...

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I just got back from Candlestick Park and frustration is probably the best word to describe how I feel.  I feel frustrated because this team shows signs of putting it together, and follows that with serious regression.  They'll put together a great offensive drive and then follow it with multiple 3 and outs.  They'll get pressure on Matt Cassel and bring him down, and then they'll follow that with Cassel having all damn day to pass the ball.  They'll make a key stop on second or third down, only to have a stupid penalty called.

I try to look at the positives after a game, and while there were positive signs today, they were follow by too many negatives.

The Defense
I'm willing to forgive the Moss bomb early because he's still an athletic freak and these things happen no matter what defense you're running.  My problem is with the lack of adjustment in this bend but don't break defense.  The theory behind a bend but don't break is to give up some first downs, give up some field goals and once in a while a touchdown, but in the end make stops more often that not.  In practice, the 49ers are struggling with the whole stopping offenses issue. 

As I was watching it seemed like the Patriots were getting first downs at will.  Cassel struggled early on but once he realized the defense was giving him a 10-15 yard cushion he picked them apart like a seasoned veteran.  It felt like the 49ers were practically running a prevent defense in the way the Patriots picked up first downs in the latter two thirds of the game.  Even though the Patriots did not have a high yards per carry, their running game still seemed wildly effective.

In just looking at the statistics, one might try and argue the pass rush was finally effective, sacking Cassel 5 times.  That person would be wrong.  The pass rush was all or nothing today as either Cassel was quickly sacked or he had plenty of time to throw the ball.  J.T. O'Sullivan was only sacked once, but it seemed like he was scrambling around in the pocket half the time.  I don't know this was planned or not, but the Patriots defense consistently forced JTO to his left side so that he had no chance to plant his feet after bootlegging out.  That was not the case with Matt Cassel and he made the quick throws he needed to.  The QB hurries and knockdowns are just as important as the sacks.

J.T. O'Sullivan
Oh JTO, what are we going to do with you? Considering he only threw for 130 yards, it was a very active day for fearless leader.  He had several ugly overthrows, he had some dropped passes and he seemed to scramble to his left every other play.  High risk/high reward is fine but things got out of hand today.  He's got 7 touchdowns and 6 interceptions on the season, to go with 20 sacks.  I think the best description of him is a poor man's Brett Favre.  A VERY poor man.  Favre would make an incredibly bad decision but followed it up with 2 or 3 huge plays.  JTO, on the other hand, will make one huge play and follow it up with 2 or 3 bad decisions.  Not quite the ratio we'd like to see.

I think you'd be a blind fool to argue the offense isn't better than it was last year.  It's not pretty in the slightest, but it is better.  I didn't hear the broadcast, but in the game thread Cruithear mentioned that the CBS crew said that the passing game would look better as they get more time together.  Clearly it's better than last year, but there are definitely some timing issues that need to be worked out.  I thought it would be a roller coaster with JTO and it truly has been so far.

Mike Martz
It is completely true that one minute he seems like a genius and the next minute you're pulling your hair out in frustration.  Clearly he's made the offense better and made this a more competitive team.  However, several areas continue to drive me batty.  First, Frank Gore.  Frank the Tank touched the ball 16 teams and had one incomplete pass thrown his way.  Considering how close this game was for the first three quarters, that's simply unacceptable.  When you're averaging close to 5 yards per touch (16 touches/78 yards), you simply have to do more with him.  I understand you're not going to run Gore on a 3rd and 4.  However, a short screen pass to him probably has a higher percentage of success than a 15 yard toss to our newest entrant as hands of ston, Vernon Davis.

My second issue, look at the drive chart.  J.T. O'Sullivan led the 49ers on 13 drives today.  TWO of those drives were for more than 30 yards.   ONE drive lasted more than 10 plays, and that drive was the only over 5 plays.  The 49ers finished the game having possessed the ball for 20:08, while the Patriots had the ball for 39:52.  It was definitely week 1 all over again, as several of you mentioned in the game thread.  I think this goes somewhat back to Frank Gore, but better use of the running game and more short completions will get that clock ticking a little bit more.

Isaac Bruce
I wanted to end this tantrum on a positive note.  Isaac Bruuuuuuuuuce is probably running a close second to Frank Gore as 49ers offensive MVP so far.  Bruce finished with 3 catches for 49 yards and 2 touchdowns.  After his monster game against the Seahawks, he has settled in as a nice, solid receiving option.  This is clearly not Jerry Rice ending his career in Seattle or Johnny Unitas in his last year as a Charger.  Isaac Bruce may not be the receiver he used to be, but he is bringing some serious game to the 49ers.  I never thought I'd root for a former Ram, but Bruce is the kind of quiet professional that anybody can root for.

Looking Forward
As some of you pointed out in the game thread, this division is still up for grabs.  The 49ers sit one game back of the Cardinals.  Of coure the next two weeks could bring some serious misery as the 49ers host a likely angry Philadelphia Eagles squad and then travel to the Meadowlands to face a bad-ass New York Giants squad. 

The Seahawks are no gimme even in their current form, so the 49ers better be careful or they could go into the bye week at 2-6.  In reality one win might be all they get before the bye.  Two wins would be absolutely amazing, but they have to at least get one.  I won't say the season is on the line in the next three weeks, but this is as important a 3-game stretch as any.

Oh, and thanks again to everybody who took part in the thread today.  Even in my absence the commentary has been fantastic.  We finished with 28 commenters and 656 comments.  49erLou and Cruithear lead the way with 89 and 86 comments respectively.  The full list is after the jump.

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Kickoff is a little over 12 hours away and I thought I'd get one more preview out.  Scouts Inc. usually hits on a lot of the obvious, but their preview of the game is always a plus.

49ers Keys to Success (with my own thoughts)
1. Straighten out the problems on the offensive line - According to Maiocco and Stats, LLC, Joe Staley has given up a team-high 5 sacks.  His move to left tackle has not exactly been smooth sailing, but hopefully as the season goes on we'll see some improvements.
2. Get Gore the ball early and often - Certainly not a shocking suggestion.  Gore has proven his ability to contribute in both the running and passing game.  I know forcing a specific ratio can create problems but it seems foolish if he's not touching the ball 25 times a game.
3. Keep Cassel running in the pocket - Cassel has completed 2/3 of his pass and while his YPA is relatively low, it should only improve as he grows more comfortable.  Accordingly, the pass rush simply has to be there.  Eventually, Cassel is going to gain some comfort with the deep game and I'd prefer it not happen today.

Matchup to Watch
They agree with us on the Moss-Clements being the best matchup of the week.  They say that:

This week Moss gets to test out his speed and big-play ability on one of the league's better cover men. It has the potential of an exciting matchup, and both players are sure to be up for the challenge. Clements prides himself on his ability to shut down opposing teams' best receivers, and he should get opportunities to prove himself against New England. The key factor in Moss versus Clements will be Cassel's ability and willingness to get the ball deep with the timing and accuracy to allow this matchup to play out.

Let's hope for a repeat of Clements' performances against Larry Fitzgerald and Calvin Johnson.  Walt Harris will have to hold up his own end of the bargain against Wes Welker, but Moss is the biggest threat out there.

Overall, Scouts Inc. slightly favors the Patriots.  They give the Patriots the edge in wide receivers, on the o-line and d-line, in special teams and at head coach.  The 49ers get the edge at quarterback, running back, linebacker and defensive back.  They predict a 23-17 Patriots win stating that:

San Francisco appeared to lose some confidence last week in New Orleans, and the 49ers are now on pace to set a new league record for sacks allowed in a season. New England isn't without its own question marks -- and shaky quarterback play is just one of them. But the Patriots get a narrow edge in this game, if for no other reason than Belichick has had an extra week to prepare for it.

We're a day away from yet another big game for the 49ers.  The team is 2-2 and as with any early .500 team, there is cause of optimism and cause for pessimism.  I remain optimistic, although the offensive line is not giving me a lot of reason to.

Heading into tomorrow's game I'm not sure how to describe my expectations.  The Patriots were annihilated by the Dolphins but they're still coached by Bill Belichick and the hooded one had two weeks to prepare for the 49ers.  I do not expect the 49ers to roll out a 38-13 victory, that's for sure.

We're only a quarter of the way through, but it's already been a loooooong season for Tully Banta-Cain.  While nothing's guaranteed, I think it's safe to say he'll be active tomorrow given Manny Lawson's injury.

Speaking of injuries, nothing surprising in the injury report for this week.  Lawson is listed as doubtful and all three Patriots mentioned Thursday (LB Eric Alexander, CB Lewis Sanders adn WR Kelley Washington) are all doubtful.

Last week Mike Nolan said he used a challenge because he wanted to call a timeout anyways and figured why not try and get a reversal.  Mike Sando put together a breakdown of the use of challenges by Nolan and Belichick.

Adalius Thomas and Mike Nolan know each other pretty well from their time in Baltimore together.  Probably why they tried to sign him last year (that and the fact that he's really good).

49ers offensive line a major concern: Thank you Captain Obvious.

Patriots scout.com site on 5 reasons the Patriots would lose tomorrow.

Brent Jones will be an honorary captain for tomorrow's game.

Jamie Martin didn't think there were any juicy theories about Mike Martz and SpyGate.

Coming off an ugly game against the Dolphins, the Patriots rush defense will have it all it can handle in Frank Gore.

This is good timing with Steve Young getting his jersey retired tomorrow.

A general look at the 49ers by a Massachusetts newspaper that thinks we're a team making progress.

Kentwan Balmer is one of nine 2008 first round draft picks not to make a start this season.  Although he did get 20 snaps last Sunday and is slowly seeing his role expand.

Brief discussion about halfway down about potential trick plays by the 49ers.  If they do decide to run some direct snaps like the Dolphins did, I really hope they use Michael Robinson or Arnaz Battle for them.  Although apparently Frank Gore thinks he can throw the ball pretty well.

The first four weeks of the season have seen the 49ers secondary squaring off against everybody from Calvin Johnson, Roy Williams and Larry Fitzgerald to Courtney Taylor, Logan Payne and Terrance Copper.  In spite of last week's performance, the 49ers secondary remains a strength in my opinion.  With that in mind I thought we'd take a look at the biggest matchup of week, along with some other important matchups.

Matchup of the Week
Nate Clements vs. Randy Moss: As interesting as I think Walt Harris and Wes Welker is, the matchup everybody will be watching is 6-4 super-freak Randy Moss vs. 6-0 Nate "Lockdown" Clements.  Clements has been money well spent and prior to Brady going down, Randy Moss slipped into the rejuvenation machine.  However, both the principals face some problems this week. 

Nate Clements will be hoping and praying the pass rush steps up this week.  As good as he is, if even a guy like Matt Cassel gets enough time, eventually he'll probably find Moss.  Maybe it won't happen early on, but eventually Clements will get worn down.  On the other side of the ball, aside from the opening week, Matt Cassel has struggled to develop a rapport with Randy Moss.  Raiders and VIkings fans are probably wondering when he'll repeat his behavior in those cities.

Other matchups
Patriots pass rush vs. 49ers offensive line: The Patriots pass rush managed next to nothing two weeks ago versus the Dolphins and witnessed Chad Pennington absolutely pick them apart.  It was helped in great part by a great running game, but either way Pennington was 17/20 for 226 yards.  Given the number of sacks JTO has suffered thus far, a full game on his feet would really be quite nice.

49ers pass rush vs. Patriots offensive line: One thing I've noticed is that Ray McDonald has been especially quiet up to this point.  He's made plays but he hasn't been the impact guy I thought he would be at the beginning of the season.  Any thoughts on what has kept him from blowing up for the 49ers?  Aside from McDonald, I'd expect we'll see a bit of Tully Banta-Cain for the first time.  He had some good performances in the preseason garbage time so who knows what we can expect.  I do know that Parys Haralson and Roderick Green need to bring the speed off the outside and get Cassel frazzled as early as possible.  If they can get Cassel hearing footsteps early it will make their job all the easier.

49ers receivers vs. Patriots secondary: One interesting advantage might be the injury of third corner Lewis Hobbs Sanders who has missed all of practice this week.  If they're short on cornerbacks, a healthy 49ers wide receiver corp could potentially do some damage.  Arnaz Battle is coming off probably the best game of his career and a chance to face a rookie like Terrence Wheatley.

49ers running game vs. interior of Patriots defense: As Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams showed last week, this defense can be run upon.  I'm sure Belichick has the defense prepped for Frank Gore, but Gore brings enough talent to overcome such gameplans if he gets enough touches.  The Patriots interior includes the likes of Vince Wilfork at nose tackle, Tedy Bruschi and Jerod Mayo at inside linebacker and hard-hitting Rodney Harrison at strong safety.  I include Harrison because of the support he can bring in the run game.  Aside from some ugly blocking against the Seahawks, the offensive line has opened up just enough space for Frank Gore to squeeze out some sizeable runs.  A solid running game is absolutely, positively essential to protecting JTO.

The 49ers have officially ruled out Manny Lawson for Sunday's game due to his hamstring injury.  We all see him pull up pretty quickly and that usually leads to a little bit of missed time.  It's unfortunate, but definitely better to be safe than sorry.  Roderick Green will certainly be active this Sunday, but with Lawson's injury, we might see Tully Banta-Cain for the first time all season.  He was running around like a mad man in the preseason but has been inactive during the regular season.  Ahmad Brooks is also out there but I'd imagine they want another outside linebacker to fill Manny's role.

Frank Gore was held out of practice yesterday in what has quickly become a weekly tradition.  Aside from the week leading up to the opener, I think Gore has been held out of Wednesday's practice every week this season as a coach's decision.  If it keeps Gore fresh I'm certainly all for it.  Of course, when he's touching the ball fewer than 20 times a game isn't he fresh enough?  I kid...sort of.

Aside from that Jonas Jennings and Shawntae Spencer are the only other guys missing practice, for obvious reasons.  Although, in yesterday's press conference Nolan mentioned Jennings' injury was meant to be a 3-4 week time table, which is fast coming to a close.  I'm really not sure how to feel about that considering his performance up to that point.  Again though, if healthy he is more talented than Barry Sims.

Patriots
On the Patriots side of the ball, the bye week allowed any bumps and bruises to heal.  They had three guys miss Wednesday practice: LB Eric Alexander, CB Lewis Sanders and #4/#5 WR Kelley Washington.  All are backups behind some pretty impressive performers (Bruschi, O'Neal and Moss) so those are not big injury issues.

We're four weeks into the 2008 NFL Season and 49ers QB J.T. O'Sullivan has been sacked 19 times.  That puts him on pace for 76 sacks, which would tie David Carr's single season record.  That also happened in Carr's rookie season and while he had a couple decent seasons, he never really recovered from the beating he took.

The Patriots have struggled a bit, but even I was surprised by how poorly their defense performed against the Dolphins.  Even with the offense losing Tom Brady, that defense has a whole host of playmakers.  Coming off such a poor performance, I think it's safe to say the hooded one will have his defense chomping at the bit and looking for blood.

Accordingly, the 49ers offense is going to have figure out a way to protect J.T. O'Sullivan and keep him on his feet more often.  I realize the Martz offense is high risk high reward and the QB is going to be sacked fairly often, but the rate so far has been ridiculous.  Jon Kitna was sacked 63 and 51 times in the two season of Martz but that was the Lions who struggled to develop a running game and didn't exactly have thre greatest offensive line in the world.

The problems so far seem to be threefold: 1) The offensive line struggles to provide JTO with time to pass, 2) When the line gives him time, JTO will hold onto the ball too long, and 3) Some of the play-calling leaves a little something to be desired.

I think the first two are areas that are both self-explanatory and I don't think much can be added to the conversation.  As far as the line is concerned there are certainly some replacement options available.  We've got some potential fill-ins and could shake things up but I'm not sure how much of a difference it would make.  As for JTO, well clearly he needs to learn to either throw away the ball or gallop along for a few free yards.  Pretty straightforward.

The play-calling is what I want to address.  We've been over and over and over the Vernon Davis problems.  What I don't understand is why Martz doesn't run more screen passes and short, quick passes to him?  Those passes drastically increase the chances that he won't drop the ball and he has proven time and again that if he gets the ball in his hands he will more often than not make some thing out of it.  If I had every game on tape I could probably point to numerous times when he gets the quick screen or quick hitches and turns up field for a first down or more.  I realize many would prefer Vernon Davis be running deep and making plays that way, but I really don't understand why they don't run specific plays just to get the ball in his hands.  Am I the only one?  Is there a reasonable explanation?

The second issue in play-calling is Frank Gore.  This past Sunday, Frank Gore ran the ball or had a pass thrown in his direction (both complete and incomplete) a total of 10 times in the first half.  In one situation, Gore ran on first and second down for 9 yards setting up a 3rd and 1.  The next play was an incomplete pass to Isaac Bruce.  I realize you don't want to force the running game if it isn't there, but if you don't think Gore can get you 1 yard from Frank Gore, there is clearly a problem.

I was never a fan of Mike Tice's "Randy Ratio" up in Minnesota.  However, in the case of Frank Gore, I think you have to come up with a minimum number of times you want him to touch the ball and then do whatever it takes to reach and exceed that number.  He's a bull of a running back who can shimmy through the smallest of holes.  A struggling offensive line will not completely hold him back.

I realize much of what I'm stating would qualify as "the obvious."  But if it's so obvious, wouldn't the coaches realize this too?  The Patriots defense presents numerous dangers, particularly coming off an embarrassing performance.  The 49ers will have to adjust to keep JTO on his feet and making plays.  All I ask is for more quick stuff to Davis and some kind of Gore ration (we can call it the "Frank Factor").

For the third straight season the 49ers went into the Louisiana Superdome and walked away behind a rather embarrasing loss.  We spent all week pondering Reggie Bush and how the 49ers defense would contain him.  Of course, it appears that in concentrating on one player, the defense forgot about the rest of the offense.  Thanks to a pass rush that give him all day long to pass, Drew Brees absolutely picked apart the secondary with deep bombs, while Deuce McAllister made some key plays in the ground game.

The Good
As awful as this game was, there were definitely some bright spots.  Unfortunately they didn't do enough to overshadow the crap-tastic display of other parts.

Frank Gore - I remain baffled at the lack of touches for Gore considering how successful he was.  Gore touched the ball 18 times for 113 yards but he clearly did not touch the ball enough.  Whatever ratio they planned for Gore either wasn't enough or simply wasn't reached.

Arnaz Battle - Battle had his first career 100+ yard receiving day as he became the go-to guy for J.T. O'Sullivan.  Of course, when Battle has been the team's leading receiver in the past, the team has been pretty bad.  Just something to think about

Patrick Willis - Bamm Bamm was all over the field making plays and helping to contain Reggie Bush.  When he was involved in the pass rush, his athleticism showed as he almost snagged a sack.  I understand his role on the defense but sometimes it's interesting to see what he can do when he pins his ears back and goes for the QB

The Ugly
I'm skipping over the bad because really there was only ugly.  Deuce had a decent day but in reality, the 49ers did an ok job in stopping the run, holding the Saints to 3.3 yards per carry.  Of course when you're getting shredded through the air it really doesn't matter.

The pass defense - I was going to break this down between the secondary and the pass rush, but they were equally awful.  The defense garnered no sacks and it never really seemed like Drew Brees was concerned about being sacked.  Given this much time, it's no wonder the secondary got shredded on several deep balls.  At the same time, the receivers seemed to have absolutely no trouble getting behind the secondary. 

J.T. O'Sullivan - After looking sharp early on, things absolutely went in the crapper for JTO thanks to turnovers.  The fumble was a clear case of holding onto the ball too long.  The two interceptions in the red zone?  Wel those will absolutely kill a team, which they did too the 49ers.  Given the way the Saints were moving the ball I don't know if the 49ers necessarily would have won without the turnovers, but either way it doesn't really matter.  I certainly am not giving up on O'Sullivan as I think his turnovers are based on correctable mistakes.  He has a problem with staring down his receivers and holding onto the ball too long.  Both of those can be fixed in practice.  Of course he had a similar problem in week 1 and the first half of the Seahawks game, so maybe it takes a little more to fix that.

All in all, this was not a pretty game.  As people said, it's especially disappointing because it was a winnable game before all the turnovers.  The biggest issue, and one that I'll open up for discussion later in the week, is the pass rush.  As bad as the secondary was, I think more of the blame rests on the shoulders of the pass rush.

This Saints game was the first in a long stretch of tough ball games coming up.  The Patriots come to town next weekend looking to rebound from an ugly loss to the Dolphins last weekend.  Matt Cassel may or may not be a good QB, but if the 49ers continue to struggle in developing a pass rush, they could very well make him look like Tom Brady.  If the 49ers want to have any hope of a .500+ season, they likely need to split the next 4 games (vs. NE, vs. Philly, @ Giants, vs. Seattle).  There are numerous mistakes to be corrected, so hopefully they can get a good week of practice in.

I missed out on the discussion today but had a chance to go through it just now.  Thanks to everyone who took part as we finished with 554 comments from 32 people.  And yes I think howtheyscored is in the running for most vitriol per comment.  Of course, after a game like today the vitriol was quite high.

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