Felger & Mazz: How The Patriots' Loss To San Fran Affects Their Road To The Super Bowl?
Felger and Massarotti kicked off the week discussing the New England Patriots 41-34 loss last night to the San Francisco 49ers.
Does last night's loss damage any chance the Patriots had of making the Super Bowl? Did last night's loss change people's perception of this Pats team?
"In all honesty, I don't think they were damaged that badly," said Mazz. "They lost the bye, we all know that. The variable now is they have to go to Denver instead of playing the Broncos at home. Is that a more daunting proposition? Or course. But they can beat the Broncos; they have beaten the Bronocs. They can beat the Texans; they have beaten the Texans."
"To me, this is more of a reflection of the NFC than the Patriots. Clearly, the level of competition in the NFC is better," Mazz added.
"I don't think the Patriots have separated themselves from the league, but I don't think anyone has," said Felger. "It's not just having to play at Denver; it's having to play at Denver having played the week before. Maybe it will be an easy game -- a Bengals team or Jets team, something like that. But still, that's 60 minutes of football on a Sunday you should have been sitting in the hot tub."
"I like the Patriots in that matchup over Denver. I don't care where they play that game," he added. "But now there is another 60 minutes of football in that setting, and then playing in Houston."
"None of those games scare me -- individually. But when you start to add them up, there is the issue," said Felger.
