SAN FRANCISCO - No matter how famous the offensive coordinator, how innovative his game plan, or how dangerous his offense there is one little simple rule of football that will stop any attack - if you don't have it, you can't score.
Coming off the bye week, the Patriots didn't need the defensive genius of Bill Belichick to slow down San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Martz's imaginative offense because the Patriots offense turned out to be an ample defense.
The Patriots played keep away yesterday against the 49ers. They maintained possession of the ball and their composure after a shaky start that left them trailing, 14-7, to score a 30-21 victory over San Francisco in the first leg of the Patriots' West Coast swing.
Behind quarterback Matt Cassel and an opportunistic defense that created three interceptions, the Patriots turned that 14-7 first-quarter deficit into a 27-14 fourth-quarter lead. In the process, they kept the creative attack of Martz idling on the sideline like a car stuck in traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge.
The Patriots outgained San Francisco 377 yards to 199 yards, ran 80 plays to just 48 for the 49ers, and dominated time of possession - 39 minutes, 52 seconds for New England and 20:08 for the 49ers. After three quarters, the Patriots had the ball for 32:14 to San Francisco's 12:46.
"I don't know what it was, but it seemed like we had the ball out there after the first quarter; it seemed like we had it all day," said Belichick. "We were on the field some of the first quarter, although they had a couple of big plays. But the time of possession was good for us, and defensively it's always good when you don't have to play."
"I could count my plays that I had out on the field," said defensive end Richard Seymour. "I was like, 'I did that on that play. This is on that play.' Usually, there are so many plays you don't even know what happened, so that's always a good thing when you can remember how many plays you've been out on the field."
The Patriots could manage such a clock coup because Cassel had his best game since replacing Brady, establishing career highs in completions (22), attempts (32), and passing yards (259). After San Francisco took a 7-0 lead on J.T. O'Sullivan's 16-yard touchdown pass to Frank Gore, Cassel burned the 49ers on a backside corner blitz and reintroduced Randy Moss and the deep ball, both of which had gone missing, into the Patriots offense to tie the game, 7-7, on a 66-yard touchdown pass, Moss's longest as a Patriot.
