Game Rewind: After a sluggish first, Tom Brady and the Patriots turned it on in the second half and beat the 49ers 30-17.

Here are my five thoughts on the game.

1. Slow Starters: The Patriots played about as bad as they could play in the first half but bounced back in the second half and blew the game open. New England has gotten off to fast starts this season, especially since Tom Brady has been back. That wasn’t the case in this game.

2. Dion Lewis is Back! Lewis played 22 total snaps. While he wasn’t super productive, he did finish with 23 yards rushing on 5 carries and he caught 3 passes for 26 yards. It’ll take Lewis time to come back but it was nice to see him playing again. I like when the Patriots use Lewis and White together in the back field. It allows them to release five eligible receivers from different alignments.

3. Defense Struggled At Times: I have said all season long and I will continue to say it. The Patriots do not have a championship caliber defense. They proved that again this week.

San Francisco is awful offensively. The fact that a crappy offense like their’s could move the ball with ease in the first half was troubling. The Patriots need to be better defensively.

4. 5 Sacks Were a Positive: The one positive area defensively for the Patriots was the pass rush. New England was able to muster five sacks but it was against one of the worst offensive lines in football. Lets see if they can get to the quarterback on a more consistent basis moving forward.

5. Tom’s Return Was Epic: Tom Brady had never played in San Francisco before this game. The last time the Patriots were in San Francisco was 2008. Brady missed that season with a knee injury. TB12 reminded 49ers fans of what they could have had by going 24/40 for 280 yards and 4 touchdown passes. Brady was on point, especially in the second half.