Eric Mangini has Sunday, Oct. 25, circled on his calendar.
Following a Week 6 bye, the New England Patriots will host the San Francisco 49ers in a highly anticipated matchup. The contest comes with no shortage of storylines, highlighted, of course, by Jimmy Garoppolo’s return to Foxboro.
Niners vs. Patriots would make for an intriguing contest regardless of where it fell on the schedule, but it just so happens to take place at a critical point of an NFL campaign. For this reason and more, it’s Mangini’s favorite matchup on the 2020 schedule.
“Week 7, for me, look at the 49ers and the Patriots,” Mangini said Friday on FOX Sports 1’s “First Things First. “The difference between either the start of the season, Week 1 or Week 3 — when you get to Week 7 you really know or start to understand who you are, who you have to be. I say this every year, you go into the season with who you want to be and the good teams realize who you need to be and that happens about midseason.
“So it’s going to be interesting for New England to look at Jimmy Garoppolo and what could have been versus what they’re dealing with at quarterback. We’re assuming it’s going to be (Jarrett) Stidham, but who knows at that point. Then we get to see how well San Francisco deals with the Super Bowl hangover. That’s not an easy thing to do for the winner, but it’s historically been very difficult for the loser of the Super Bowl.”
Eric Mangini's favorite matchup on the 2020 schedule: Week 7, 49ers at Pats
"It'll be interesting for New England to look at Jimmy G and what could have at been versus what they're dealing w/ at QB. And we get to see how well San Francisco deals w/ the Super Bowl hangover." pic.twitter.com/zTKb8ovfcg
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) May 8, 2020
Unfortunately for the Patriots, the 49ers arguably aren’t even their toughest opponent in the upcoming season. New England will visit the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4 and host the Baltimore Ravens, the AFC’s No. 1 seed from a season ago, in Week 10.
In short, Stidham’s first go-round as a starting quarterback will be far from a cakewalk.
