Two undefeated teams remain in the NFL, and they’ve put together their perfect records in similar fashions.
The New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers continue to run roughshod through the league largely on the strength of ferocious defenses, both of which have covered up some holes on the offensive side of the ball. The Patriots have dealt with quite a few injuries on the offensive line and at wide receiver, while the 49ers still feature a rather pedestrian passing attack.
So at this point, you really have to split hairs when debating whether New England or San Francisco currently is the league’s top team. Jason Whitlock on Monday gave the nod to the Niners, but one of his reasons might be a reach.
“If I’m choosing who’s got a better defense and therefore I’m gonna make the leap, a better team, I’m gonna start with the front four. These games are decided in the trenches,” Whitlock said on FS1’s “Speak For Yourself.” “San Francisco’s front four is like the ’85 Bears when it started with Richard Dent, Dan Hampton and that group up front. They’re deep, man. They got guys coming off the bench that can make plays. I think San Francisco’s front four makes them really difficult and better than the New England Patriots’ defense. I know statistically I’m on weak ground, but I think New England’s played a weaker schedule and has beaten up a bunch of poor teams and got their stats.”
Whitlock continued: “I think as a play caller and quarterback combination, I’ll take Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo right now over the aging Tom Brady and Josh McDaniels.”
It’s tough to have a true gripe over Whitlock’s first point. San Francisco’s front four is flat-out frightening and probably is the best in football. This isn’t to take anything away from New England, which arguably features the league’s best secondary and one of the top linebacking corps. But when it comes to each team’s play caller-quarterback tandem, Whitlock might be letting his anti-Patriots bias impair his judgment.
Yes, Shanahan is one of the league’s sharper offensive minds, but McDaniels has a pretty good track record himself. And while Brady probably isn’t in the MVP conversation like he annually has been in years past, it’s not tough to make an argument that he’s still a better option than Garoppolo, who ranks in the bottom tier of most passing stats. To be fair, the Niners aren’t really asking Jimmy G to go out and win them games through the air each week, but the jury still is out when it comes to whether the 27-year-old can routinely deliver in crunch time.
So yeah, we’re not sure which team is better, but we do know Patriots-49ers would be one hell of a Super Bowl LIV matchup for myriad reasons.
