Hello Niner Nation,

Like most of you, we were dissapointed with how the Niners played at home last week. We really thought they were up to the task of taking down New England. Also dissapointing was how the offense performed, inspiring this comment about San Francisco in our weekly NFL rankings:

When you have a young quarterback that is struggling with turnovers and a running back that is averaging 4.8 yards per carry, it would seem an easy decision to let the running game do most of the heavy lifting for your team. Apparenlty the San Francisco coaching staff has different ideas.

Maybe that is an overly simplistic outlook on solving the 49ers woes, and we're sure some of you have some thoughts on what the team could be doing better. One we thing we know for sure: San Francisco has been as good at beating San Francisco as has their opponents.

PHI @ SF

Our line: Philadelphia by 1

Consistency is the biggest factor in this matchup. Although they have lost their last two games, Philadelphia has played well and one could argue they should have won at least one of those games. Our rankings see them as a balanced team, and both Real Points and Win Grade agree with where they stand (17th). San Francisco is a different matter. They have also lost two in a row, but have done it by beating themselves with turnovers. San Francisco has 6 turnovers in their last two games, and 12 for the season. This is somewhat unfortunate given how strong their offense is when they aren't handing the football directly to the other team. We are quite confident that the San Francisco offense will be able to move the ball well enough to keep this game close the whole way. However, we see their erratic play haunting them once again and giving the Philadelphia defense the last word.

ITN rankings:

- Philadelphia #17

- San Francisco #24