Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has plenty of decisions to make as the team gets ready to play the Detroit Lions in Week 3 of the preseason and he also has plenty to think about for the first game of the regular season, as the Buffalo Bills are awaiting in Week 1.
Belichick spoke about the upcoming game as well as issues regarding Tom brady and his knee, Tim Tebow and the quarterback position as well as the tight ends with Jake Ballard and Daniel Fells as well as Zach Sudfield looking like options now that Aaron Hernandez is gone and Rob Gronkowski is injured. Reports say that Gronk won't play Week 1 and the team needs someone to step up at the position now.
Here is some information on the 49ers are their preseason thus far. The San Francisco 49ers are coming into the 2013 season hoping for a near repeat of last year, but this time they would like to be the team that wins the Super Bowl and not the one that loses the championship, which is what happened against the Baltimore Ravens last year after the team defeated the Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs.
The 49ers are coming into the season with a number of new faces and new challenges to overcome, including the loss of Michael Crabtree as well as the injury to Patrick Willis. The team was one of the best in the NFL last season and now Colin Kaepernick will have the chance to have a full camp and offseason as the starter after taking away the job from Alex Smith last year. Smith was injured and after Jim Harbaugh saw what Kaepernick could do, that was all he needed to give him the starting job.
The 49ers moved up in the draft to take Kaepernick when he was drafted and now he gets the chance to show everyone why once again this season. Smith was very accurate and smart with the ball last season, but Kaepernick was explosive and now he will try and follow that up. Smith is now a member of the Chiefs and the two quarterbacks will get the chance to go at it on the preseason in week 2 as the 49ers are set to travel to take on the Chiefs. The team traded a second round pick for Smith and now the 49ers feel they have the upper hand with Kaepernick.
Last season the defense was stellar and this year they appear to be jus6t as good after adding two cornerbacks in Eric Wright and Nnamdi Asomugha and the team should be able to get over the loss of Crabtree after trading from Anquan Boldin from the Ravens. The team will lose defensive lineman Demarcus Dobbs for one game after coming to an agreement with the NFL about a violation of the NFL's substance-abuse policy and the team will have to deal with playing the Packers without him, although he can continue to practice.
There has been a ton of talk about receiver A.J. Jenkins this year after the young player had a rough season as a rookie and without Crabtree he will be expected to step up with names like Austin Collie, Kyle Williams and Lavelle Hawkins on the roster. Mario Manningham is dealing with injuries as well and now the team must find a way to make up for the loss of Crabtree. The 49ers were one of the most consistent teams in the NFL last season and finished ranked fourth in the league in rushing yards as well as fourth in both passing and rushing yards allowed per game.