In his second season, Tom Brady led the New England Patriots to a Super
Bowl victory after taking over as the starting quarterback during the
year.
Colin Kaepernick is hoping to pull off the same feat with the San Francisco 49ers.
Brady leads the Patriots' top-ranked offense on Sunday night when they
host Kaepernick and the San Francisco 49ers' No. 1 scoring defense in a
battle of division leaders.
New England (10-3), which will try for its 14th straight win in
December and 21st straight at home during the month, has already won
the AFC East title and trails Houston by one game for the conference's
top seed.
San Francisco (9-3-1) can win the NFC West on Sunday with a win and a
Seattle loss to Buffalo.
"It's a great opportunity to go out and show what we're capable of,"
Kaepernick said. "They're going to give you a lot of different looks on
defense. You just have to be ready for it."
While New England went 11-3 in 2001 after Brady replaced the injured
Drew Bledsoe in Week 2, the 49ers have won three of Kaepernick's four
starts since Alex Smith suffered a concussion against St. Louis on Nov.
11.
Kaepernick was 18 of 23 for 185 yards in a 27-13 win over Miami on
Sunday. He's completed 67.4 percent of his passes as a starter and
averaged 8.3 yards per attempt.
Kaepernick showed off his running ability with a late 50-yard touchdown
to seal the victory over the Dolphins. He's already third among NFL
quarterbacks with 351 yards on the ground - 7.6 per carry - and five
rushing touchdowns.
"There are definitely things that we're doing that tailor the offense
to his skill set,'' coach Jim Harbaugh said.
The Patriots have done plenty to tailor their prolific offense around
Brady. A week after throwing just one touchdown pass as New England
clinched the East in Miami, the two-time MVP threw for 296 yards and a
season high-tying four TDs in a 42-14 rout of the Texans on Monday
night.
Brady has thrown for 29 touchdowns and just four interceptions this
season, including 19 with only one pick during the team's seven-game
winning streak.
"It needs to come together now,'' Brady said. "This is the perfect time
for it. We can't wait any longer.''
After holding the Texans' imposing front seven to just one sack and
keeping AFC sack leader J.J. Watt off the board, the Patriots face a
San Francisco defense that features linebacker Aldon Smith, who has an
NFL-high 19 1/2 sacks and is three shy of tying Michael Strahan's
single-season record.
The 49ers lead the NFL in scoring defense (14.2 points per game), but
the Patriots have the NFL's highest-scoring offense (36.3) and have put
up 42 or more points in four of their past six games.
Brady will try to make the most of a banged-up receiving corps after
Donte' Stallworth (ankle) and Julian Edelman (foot) were placed on
injured reserve this week.
As a result, the team re-signed Deion Branch for the second time this
season.
With tight end Rob Gronkowski also out with a broken forearm, Aaron Hernandez stepped up nicely with eight catches for 58 yards and two
scores against Houston.
Stevan Ridley will try to continue to give the Patriots a solid option
in the running game after scoring a touchdown in six consecutive
contests.
The 49ers, though, have given up just three rushing scores - tied for
the league lead. They're also tied for second in rushing defense at
90.8 yards per game.
"We're going to be able to see where we are as a defense,'' safety
Donte Whitner said. "We understand who's going to have to win that
football game, and we think it's going to be the defense."
The Patriots' defense has improved the past two weeks, allowing an
average of 300.0 yards after yielding 390.2 yards per game through
their first 11 contests.
The 49ers would love to get star tight end Vernon Davis more involved
after he's totaled three catches for 19 yards in the last three games.
San Francisco, though, doesn't figure to shy away from its versatile
running game. Behind 1,000-yard rusher Frank Gore, the 49ers rank
second in the league at 161.5 yards per game.
They'll want to wear down the Patriots, who rank eighth against the run
(100.8) after holding Houston's Arian Foster to 46 yards and a
touchdown on 15 carries.
"We know we're a good defense here," Patriots cornerback Devin McCourty
said. "We know we've played really well the last couple of weeks and
the biggest focus for us is just trying to build on that.''
New England looks for its fourth straight victory against San
Francisco, winning the last meeting 30-21 with Matt Cassel under center
on Oct. 5, 2008.
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