Bledsoe, Pats, Still In A Funk

Drew Bledsoe dressed slowly, gingerly pulling a shirt over his sore left shoulder. The real pain was in his head.

“Physically, yeah, I’m OK,” he said as he headed for an X-ray on his shoulder. “But psychologically that’s a tough one to take, because we had a golden opportunity a lot of times. It was a frustrating, frustrating game.”

Bledsoe was 21-of-51 for 241 yards and committed four turnovers as his New England Patriots lost 28-3 to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. Many of Bledsoe’s passes were poorly thrown, especially after his non-throwing shoulder was hurt in the first quarter.

Bledsoe, who had 25 touchdown passes last season en route to the Pro Bowl, has none after three games this year. His three interceptions Sunday gave him five this season.

The Patriots, who have not scored a touchdown in consecutive losses to Miami and San Francisco, have been particularly ineffective when they get near an opponent’s goal line.

“It’s just very frustrating to move the ball as well as we’ve been moving it and get down there and not get any points,” said Bledsoe, who fumbled on one of his four sacks. “There’s no one thing. It’s just one play this and another play that. It seems like we’re cursed or something.”

Bledsoe was injured when Ken Norton blitzed late in the first quarter, slamming him to the turf as he threw an incomplete pass. Bledsoe was unable to get up for a couple of minutes, and then missed a series while getting his shoulder taped in the locker room.

Bledsoe said the injury did not impair his throwing, but the 49ers said the hit seemed to leave him uncomfortable the rest of the game.

“After I hit him, he wasn’t that accurate. He was looking for someone to hit him,” Norton said. “It was a blitz I had been waiting to run all week. It opened up perfectly and I got a good shot at him.”

Merton Hanks, who had two interceptions, said constant pressure on Bledsoe undermined the New England offense. The four sacks were a career worst for Bledsoe, who had been sacked just once in the first two games.

“We had good pressure all day, and that really got to him,” Hanks said. “You could tell because of the tipped balls.”

Patriots coach Bill Parcells said he was not focusing on the physical and psychological battering Bledsoe took against the 49ers, since his entire team had been overwhelmed for the second straight week.

“Look, everybody in that (locker) room’s confidence level is shaken, not just Drew’s,” Parcells said.