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The 49ers are 10-4 on the road under coach Harbaugh.

Dec 15, 2012, 3:16 PM EDT

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49ERS (9-3-1) AT PATRIOTS (10-3)

By Football Night in America’s Eliott Kalb

 

  • The 49ers are 10-4 (.714) on the road under head coach Jim Harbaugh.
  • While the Patriots enter this week’s game first in the NFL with an average of 36.3 points per game, the San Francisco defense is first in the NFL, allowing just 14.2 points per game.
  • Randy Mossplayed for the Patriots from 2007-10.
  • With one touchdown pass against the 49ers, Tom Brady will extend his streak to 46 straight games with at least one touchdown pass and continue his third longest streak all time, behind Drew Brees (54) and Johnny Unitas (47).
  • Brady (3,833) needs 167 passing yards to reach 4,000 yards for the fifth time and join Dan Marino (6), Brett Favre (6), Drew Brees (7) and Peyton Manning (11) as the only players to have at least five seasons with 4,000 passing yards.
  • Wes Welker (95) needs 5 receptions to become the first player in NFL history with five 100-catch seasons.
  • Stevan Ridley had a rushing touchdown in his sixth straight game with a 14-yard run in the fourth quarter. The Patriots record for most consecutive games scoring is seven by Curtis Martin in 1996.
  • The 49ers have scored 48 points on their first possession of the 2nd half, ranking 2nd in the NFL (Philadelphia – 50).
  • On the other side of the ball, the 49ers defense has only allowed 10 points on opponents first possession of the 2nd half, ranking 1st in the NFL.RNA
  • The 49ers ground game has emerged as one of the best in the NFL in 2012, rushing for 2,100 yards and 16 TDs on 397 carries (5.3 avg.).
  • The 49ers rank 1st in the NFL in carries of 10-or-more yds. (71) and 2nd in the NFL in rusing yds./gm. (161.5) and rushing yds. (2,100).
  • Aldon Smith leads the league with 19.5 sacks in 14 games. Furthermore, Smith’s incentive to play well on the big stage is highhanded now that he’s 3.5 sacks from breaking Michael Strahan’s single-season sack record set in 2001. To put San Francisco’s young linebacker’s recent stretch in greater perspective, Smith’s totaled 14.0 sacks over the past six weeks, the same number totaled by this year’s Jacksonville Jaguars defense.
  • The first way to beat the Patriots is for the 49ers to use the read option out of the pistol offense often. NFL teams aren’t used to it, but quarterback Colin Kaepernick and rookie running back LaMichael James are. The 49ers used it five or six straight times against the Dolphins and eventually, they got a 50-yard touchdown run out of Kaepernick from the formation.It involves a fullhouse backfield with three running backs and then Kaepernick deciding whether to handoff, keep it, pass it or even pitch it.  In this formation, at least the Niners are running away from Vince Wolfork.
  • Here’s what Rodney’s former teammate Tedy Bruschi says about Kaepernick: “ I wouldn’t say he’s Tebow-like, but maybe you could say he’s Tebow-like with much more speed and arm talent in terms of what he can do as a quarterback. That’s why this is an interesting matchup to me — this is a Bill Belichick defensive game-plan against the next generation of NFL offenses. Kaepernick is that type of true run-pass threat, and he’s the type of quarterback you want to run this system, with the height, the arm, the speed, and the athletic ability”
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