It was far from pretty, but the New England Patriots were able to battle through the inclement weather with a short-handed offense to beat the lowly San Francisco 49ers, 30-17, Sunday afternoon. 

Here are some initial thoughts from the game:

Home Sweet Home- It was a great homecoming for future Hall-of-Famer Tom Brady, who played his first career game in San Francisco which is just 25 miles away from his hometown of San Mateo, California, Sunday. Brady grew up a Niners fan, but they surely weren't fans of his by the end of the night, as he torched his boyhood team all game long. Battling through a heavy rain through most of the game, Brady completed 24 of 40 pass attempts for 280 yards and four scores. He also used his unheralded pocket mobility to extend multiple plays and consistently found a way to move around and buy a little extra time to allow his receivers to get separation from the coverage.

Throwback Jules- Patriots receiver Julian Edelman had yet to really have a quintessential "Julian Edelman-like" game that we have come to expect from the tough-as-nails slot receiver over the years, so far this season. Sunday gave us one of our first looks at the Edelman of old, as the shifty receiver carried the load for the short-handed passing attack. On the day, Edelman eight passes for 77 yards and a score. He also carried the ball twice for 12 yards. While it wasn't the best game of his career, it was a throwback to what we've seen in the past and it was a necessary performance for a team that didn't have some of its other key options in the passing game.

Mitchell Rises Up- With limited options in the passing game, rookie receiver Malcolm Mitchell saw an opportunity to play a more integral role in the team's offense and the youngster rose to the occasion. Mitchell led the team in receiving yards on the day with 98 on four catches. He also reeled in a 56-yard touchdown reception, after working to get open on a broken play. To cap things off, the rookie blocked well on the day, including a nice down field block on a huge LeGarrette Blount run in the first half.

Getting Back In The Mix- Running back Dion Lewis got his first action of the season, Sunday, after missing the first 10 weeks of the season while rehabbing from a torn ACL. In hist first game of the year, the dual threat back played about 20 snaps and gained 49 yards from scrimmage on eight touches. He showed some of his skills in eluding tackles as well, which was a welcomed sight for Patriots Nation.

LG For 100- For the fourth time this season, Patriots power back LeGarrette Blount rushed for over 100 yards in a game. The downhill runner, who is having a career year across the board, carried the ball 19 times for 124 yards against the 49ers, who have the worst rushing defense in the league. Honestly, it was somewhat surprising that given San Francisco's trouble against the run this year and the rain, the Patriots did not give the ball to Blount more often. When he did get the ball, however, he gashed the porous Niners defense.

Sack Party- The New England defense entered the game struggling mightily to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks and, in some senses, had been struggling even more to bring down those quarterbacks, when they would actually get pressure. The Pats were able to finally show a little life on the pass rush, Sunday, as they recorded five sacks of Niners quarterback Colin Kapernick. While the rain and the fact that they were going up against a less-than-stellar offensive line surely helped them out, the pass rushing unit definitely got themselves going in the right direction. They'll need to find a way to have more outings like this, as the season hits the back half and they move onto more important games.

Still Not Where They Should Be- While the defense did do much better than they had previously done from a pass rush perspective, it was still a down game for the unit as a whole. They allowed a very weak and somewhat undermanned San Francisco offense to gain 299 total yards and put together a respectable 5-14 showing on third down. The simple fact of the matter is, while they weren't horrible today, they were far from good. When they play team's with stronger offenses that can beat you in multiple ways, they'll be hard-pressed to continually make stops. At the end of the day, the defense is not yet where it needs to be to be.

All in all, the game was much closer than it should have been. It took the offense a while to pull away and he defense still leaves a lot to be desired. At the end of the day a win is a win, but that hopefully the Patriots are still growing. The Pats have two more cupcake games coming up against the Jets and the Rams, but after that, we'll see what this team has really got.

More From WBSM-AM/AM 1420