We’ve seen it so often we’ve become numb to it, but it’s still remarkable how many situationally unaware, poorly-coached football teams the Patriots seem to play every year.

A case in point came on Sunday at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The Pats were clinging to a six-point lead over the 49ers with just under six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when Randy Moss was flagged for offensive pass interference on a screen pass to Wes Welker. The penalty knocked the Pats out of field goal range, leaving them with a third-and-20 from the San Francisco 44-yard line. Again, it was a one possession game (27-21), so you’d figure the Niners would want to take advantage of the penalty by playing it tight on third down and keeping the Pats on the outskirts of Stephen Gostkowski’s range. In other words, the situation called for them to defend the 37-yard line (which would have meant a 55-yard attempt), not the 24-yard line (where the first-down marker was). Common sense, right? Not to Niners coach Mike Nolan and defensive coordinator Greg Manusky, who inexplicably called a prevent defense to defend the stakes, not the field goal. And the Pats took advantage. Matt Cassel completed an easy underneath throw to Jabar Gaffney at the 38-yard line (there wasn’t a defender within five yards) and Gaffney made it to the 31-yard line before being brought down. Congratulations, Coach Nolan. You prevented the first down. Gostkowski then came on and nailed a 49-yard field goal. Ball game.

It’s not that the Pats did anything special on the play (that came earlier, when Bill Belichick went for it on fourth-and-goal from the 49ers two-yard line), they just played the situation. And the opponent didn’t.

If history is any indication, it will hardly be the only time we say that this year.

Enjoy the grades and let me know what you think. Reponses will come in the mailbag on Thursday.

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QUARTERBACK -- B

It all comes down to pocket presence for Matt Cassel. He just doesn’t have much of it right now -- and why would he? That comes with playing time, and he’s never had any. It’s largely why he was sacked five times on Sunday and couldn’t locate several open receivers. Like many young quarterbacks, Cassel often suffers from focusing too much on the on-coming rushers and not enough on the receivers down the field. Conquering this will be a major hurdle. But if he can do it, the Pats just might be in business. That’s because Sunday also showed what Cassel is capable of when he manages just a measure of poise in the pocket. For example, my favorite play came on a third-and-10 pickup late in the third quarter, when San Francisco sent a late safety blitz and Cassel kept his head. He stood firm in the pocket, kept his eyes down field and delivered an 11-yard strike to Jabar Gaffney over the middle while getting nailed by Mark Roman. It was the kind of play that wins you games. His 66-yard rainbow to Randy Moss was another great example of Cassel feeling the rush behind his back shoulder, stepping up before front-side pressure and delivering the ball. Another small, encouraging play happened late in the second quarter, when Cassel read that Moss had outside leverage against the Niners' coverage, and he responded by hitting Moss with an easy out pattern for 14 yards. Moss pointed at Cassel afterwards, seemingly acknowledging that that the two made the adjustment together at the line. On the flip side, there were several plays where Cassel focused too much on the pressure, and he twice missed a wide-open Moss in the red zone as a result. Cassel’s first interception also came after he failed to sense the backward movement of guard Logan Mankins (more him later). His second pick was just a brutal throw. He had plenty of time and plenty of room to deliver the ball – he just didn’t do it. Overall, the Pats have to be encouraged by what they saw from their quarterback on Sunday. The 49ers may stink, but the game gave the Pats hope that the offense can, in fact, play in the 20’s with Cassel behind center.

RUNNING BACKS – B+

You just can’t say enough good things about Kevin Faulk, who gets an A+ for his two-touchdown, four-catch, 32-yards rushing afternoon. Conversely, how much more do we need to see of Laurence Maroney before we state the obvious? He just doesn’t have it. Give him a big, fat F for this one. His signature play came in the third quarter when he dipped out of bounds just before the first down marker instead of lowering his shoulders into linebacker Patrick Willis and moving the chains. It was, in a word, pathetic. Maroney came to the bench for the rest of the series after the play, where he probably should have stayed. Instead, it took one more pitter-patter run for no gain for the coaches to say ``enough.’’ Even before that sequence, Maroney was the worst running back on the field for the Pats. Sammy Morris (63 yards on 16 carries) was once again more decisive and more productive. LaMont Jordan also did some good things before getting hurt. The Pats had better hope he’s okay, because Maroney isn’t helping you right now.   

RECEIVERS – A-

Yes, folks, Randy Moss can still run. Maybe 49ers defensive back Walt Harris didn't get the memo, because he was left totally flat-footed as Moss blew by him and big-money corner Nate Clements on his 66-yard home run in the first quarter. What a beautiful play. Here was another beautiful sight: with three minutes left in the game and the Pats defense lining up for a fourth-and-long play, Moss could be seen standing on the sidelines with his teammates shouting encouragement onto the field. If body language is your thing, then the sight of an intense, involved Moss is for you. Elsewhere, Wes Welker (eight catches, 73 yards) remained a steady, productive presence in the possession game while Gaffney (three catches, 35 yards) did the most with his few chances. Finally, Ben Watson could have done a better job trying to keep his feet in the end zone on a third-quarter catch that wound up out of bounds.

OFFENSIVE LINE – B-

What's the deal with Logan Mankins in pass protection? He’s getting beat consistently, whether by simple bull rushes or just by losing his man. The former led to Cassel's first interception, as defensive tackle Aubrayo Franklin got underneath Mankins’ pads and drove him into Cassel as the ball was being delivered. Mankins later got beat by Parys Haralson on a play that resulted in a holding penalty to Mankins and a sack of Cassel. Ugh. But while Mankins has been a liability in pass protection, he did lead the way on both of Faulk's touchdown runs, smothering Franklin on the first and scraping to the second level to handle Takeo Spikes on the second score. In the second quarter, the Pats also ran to Mankins’ side on a crucial third-and-1 pickup by Jordan. As mentioned above, Cassel and his slow internal clock didn’t do the line any favors. For example, Billy Yates technically gave up a sack to Isaac Sopoaga early in the third quarter, but Cassel also held the ball too long and could have been taken down by any rusher. Conversely, Yates and center Dan Koppen failed to pick up a blitzing Haralson on a first-quarter sack that was, in fact, the line's fault. Meanwhile, the run-blocking was pretty good (take away Cassel's five rushing yards and the Pats gained 139 yards as team on 39 carries for a 3.6 YPC) and the downfield blocking on screens, especially by Matt Light, was terrific as usual. Overall, the line deserves a good share of credit for the Pats' huge time of possession advantage.

DEFENSIVE LINE – B

The Pats did allow Frank Gore to average 4.5-yards-per-carry (54 yards on 12 rushes), but in the context of the game, Gore was a virtual non-factor. His 16-yard gain on an inside counter run in the first quarter was the worst of it. Generally, the Pats had the upper hand in the trenches on both sides of the ball, even if that didn’t translate to the stat sheet. Richard Seymour, for example, did not receive credit for any tackles, assists, deflections or hits on the quarterback. He was literally absent from the defensive statistics. Ditto for Jarvis Green. Ty Warren and Vince Wilfork (four tackles apiece) did get at least some ink. Basically, when an offense runs only 48 plays as the 49ers did, and 30 of those are pass plays, there aren’t going to be a lot of opportunities for the men up front.

LINEBACKERS – B

The play of the day among this group went to Tedy Bruschi, who dropped Gore for a loss on third-and-short at the end of the second quarter. Adalius Thomas showed up late, batting down a pass and sacking O’Sullivan on consecutive plays in the fourth quarter. Thomas finished with a team-high five tackles. It was interesting to see rookie free agent Gary Guyton (two tackles) work into the rotation in sub packages.

SECONDARY – A-

There were certainly some missed assignments here, but overall this group was the key to the defensive effort. It felt like Niners quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan was constantly getting flushed out of the pocket and running for his life – and that’s because the receivers he was expecting to be open weren't. San Francisco was just 1-of-9 on third down, and 1-of-11 on third and fourth combined. The Pats’ defense was so stout (and the offense possessed the ball for so long) that the Niners went from the 6:44 mark of the first quarter to the 13:39 mark of the fourth quarter without a single passing first down. That’s domination. The Pats also finally saw some play-making from their safeties. Rodney Harrison's third quarter interception was a great read, as he snuffed out the slant to Arnaz Battle and stepped in for the deflection and pick. Brandon Meriweather's interception was even better, as he deflected a deep ball up in the air and came down with it as he lay prone on the ground. Unfortunately, Meriweather made a bad play in the fourth, obviously holding Battle for a 31-yard penalty. There was more bad stuff early. The Pats got a break on the first series when O’Sullivan and Delanie Walker couldn’t hook up on a wide-open crossing route, but they had no such luck on the next series, when Harrison released Isaac Bruce on the flag and no one was there to pick him up. It's hard to know who blew the coverage, but someone did. Badly. Bruce picked up 38 yards on the play. Deltha O'Neal had his share of ups and downs, drawing a holding flag in the first quarter to give the Niners a first down, combining with Ellis Hobbs to leave Bruce with too much room on his first touchdown and later factoring in Bruce's second score in the fourth quarter, although it looked like O'Neal was expecting inside help that never came (James Sanders?). Finally, it was hard to blame Ellis Hobbs on the first-quarter touchdown he gave up on a slant to Gore. The coverage was very good. O'Sullivan just made a perfect throw and Gore made a play that not many running backs can make.

SPECIAL TEAMS – A

What a weapon Gostkowski has been. He carried the day in the fourth quarter with field goals from 40 and 49-yards and sent four of his first five kickoffs into the end zone. He is now a perfect 10-for-10 on the year. It’s hard to imagine Belichick will be going for it on fourth-and-13 anytime soon. Meanwhile, punter Chris Hanson finally had one downed inside the 20 but was otherwise unimpressive (a 27.3-yard net average). Hanson and long snapper Lonie Paxton did do a good job covering the far sideline on a 13-yard punt return by Nate Clements that could have been much worse.  

COACHING – A

Remember what we said after the Jets game about Belichick's aggressiveness? That was after the coach merely decided to let Cassel throw the ball a few times after New York had cut into the lead in the fourth quarter. What happened Sunday took it to the next level. With the Pats holding a three-point, third-quarter lead and facing a fourth-and-goal from the San Francisco 2-yard line, Bold Billy went for it and was rewarded. Dipping back into the Charlie Weis bag of tricks, the Pats called for the vintage direct snap play to Faulk with Cassel playing the role of Brady and faking the blown snap. Up in the booth, Randy Cross and Dan Fouts were crediting the Dolphins' ``wildcat'' formation as the inspiration, but veteran Patriot watchers have seen the Pats use that play off and on for the last eight years. The 49ers, of course, weren’t ready. The inside handoff to Faulk at the end of the second quarter was also a surprise call that worked. You can credit the coaches in the booth (Ernie Adams) for calling for a replay challenge on a bad spot on a Faulk screen in the fourth. The re-spot produced a first down. This was also a good day for the coordinators. On defense, Dean Pees trotted out a few exotic sub packages featuring either four or one down linemen. More importantly, those packages were able to cut off the deep passing lanes that Mike Martz likes to exploit. Belichick has had Martz’ number for years, and this day was no different. Credit offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels (unless it was someone else) for the design of the play that produced Moss' 66-yard score. On the play, the Niners were discombobulated in coverage, as Moss lined up in the slot and came off the line last, leaving Clements and Harris slightly confused and unprepared for the deep route.

THREE UP

Kevin Faulk – Consistent and productive. Has become an indispensable player on the offense.

Patriots Secondary – Gave up some plays early, but otherwise stifled the Niners’ potent passing attack.

Stephen Gostkowski – Mr. Perfect.

THREE DOWN

Laurence Maroney – Just doesn’t get it.

Logan Mankins – Very good run blocking; very bad pass blocking.

Deltha O’Neal – Gave up his share of plays.

FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH

    -- Obviously, the key stats in the game were the third- and fourth-down conversion numbers. While the Pats were 9-of-18 combined (50 percent), the Niners were 1-of-11 (nine percent). That, more than anything, led to the Pats’ huge time of possession advantage (39:52 to 20:08).

    -- Apparently, the 49ers didn't go to school on how the Dolphins beat the Pats two weeks ago. The Niners went to the ``wildcat’’ offense just once, and even though Frank Gore picked up seven yards and a first down on the play, the Pats never saw it again. Typical Martz. You’d figure he’d at least want to see the Pats stop the scheme once, but no dice. On the other side of the ball, San Francisco had few answers for the Pats’ screen game like Miami did. The Pats were able to screen the Niners to death, picking up several key first downs and big chucks of yards throughout the day.

    -- Nolan did have a legitimate beef on the touchy facemask penalty on 49ers defensive end Justin Smith late in the second quarter that nullified a sack of Cassel and set up Faulk for his first score. The Pats were lucky on that one.

   -- What a wasted pick Vernon Davis seems to be. The 49ers’ big tight end, who was drafted No. 6 overall in 2006, didn’t have a single catch on the day (he did drop one). He now has five catches and no touchdowns on the season.

    -- What a punt by the Niners' Andy Lee at the end of the second quarter. It was officially an 82-yarder, but he really booted the ball from his own 6-yard-line, meaning the ball traveled 94 yards before it reached the Pats' end zone for a touchback.

Mike Felger can be seen nightly on Mohegan Sun’s Sports Tonight on Comcast Sportsnet. Reach him at mfelger@weei.com.