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OAKLAND, Calif. - 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks said Sunday that he inadvertently missed a morning defensive meeting Tuesday but showed up an hour later for a second meeting focused on domestic violence.There was a meeting earlier in the week, yes, defensive meeting, coach Jim Harbaugh said. And other guys had a better week. He was in a backup role today.Brooks said nobody told him he wouldnt start or play at all Sunday, when San Francisco lost 24-13 to the Oakland Raiders to see its playoff hopes take another hit. He had his streak of 60 straight starts snapped dating to 2010.Oh, man, I mustve just forgot that we had a meeting, said Brooks, who thought it was a day off though San Francisco had three days last weekend off after playing Thanksgiving night.Brooks said from his understanding he thought he would play in some capacity, even after receiving fewer reps in practice during the week, noting, They never once told me that I wasnt going to be playing at all.The 30-year-old Brooks said defensive co-ordinator Vic Fangio asked him at the time what had happened.Its frustrating, very frustrating, Brooks said. They have their plan of what they want to do and all I can do as a player is just abide by the rules. No, I do not agree. Im just a player, Im just a number, you know what I mean?The ninth-year pro has 27 tackles, five sacks and a forced fumble for the 49ers (7-6). There was a report earlier this season the 49ers had tried to trade him to Cleveland.Last month, Brooks said he was benched for the second half of a 16-10 road win against the Giants for heated words he directed at defensive line coach Jim Tomsula in the second quarter.Brooks was frustrated with his playing time on a day linebacker Aldon Smith returned for his season debut following a nine-game suspension. The outside linebacker apologized to Tomsula and said they have moved forward.Brooks said he doesnt know what his future might hold with the 49ers. In February 2012, he signed a six-year contract extension through the 2017 season.Im not here to point fingers. Im not the only one thats ever missed anything. Of course theres been other people thats missed or been late, he said. But Im not going to point fingers. I own up to my responsibilities. I wasnt there. They made a decision. It is what it is. 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While this game or series isnt necessarily a referendum on the value of fourth lines, the Canadiens certainly benefitted from production lower down their forward depth chart.OWINGS MILLS, Md. - The Ravens record-setting offence sputtered and stalled before halftime in December, scoring only two touchdowns in eight quarters.That wont do if Baltimore intends to make a deep post-season run.Its like a theme, wide receiver Torrey Smith said. We have to break it.Despite being outscored 41-20 in the first half, the Ravens won three of their final four games to squeeze into the playoffs. Baltimores offence produced only seven first-quarter points during that span, a performance hardly befitting the highest-scoring team in franchise history.Its something we need to address and fix and make sure it doesnt happen, quarterback Joe Flacco said. But I think the biggest thing is just to go out there and be aggressive and do the things that we do well and make the plays when theyre presented to us.Of Baltimores 30 first-half possessions in December, 14 ended with punts and four with turnovers. There was also a missed field goal, and once the Ravens turned the ball over on downs.The last thing the Ravens need is another early lockdown by their offence Saturday night during their wild-card game at Pittsburgh.You dont want to put yourself in a hole. You have to play better, receiver Steve Smith said. But at the same time, its the playoffs. Anything happens, and everything happens. We just have to play ball, and we have to play better, and we have to make more plays than them. And hopefully, at the end of the game, we have more on the scoreboard than they do.Overall, its been a great year for Baltimores offence under first-year co-ordinator Gary Kubiak. The Ravens scored 409 points, ranking eighth in the NFL with a 25.6 averrage, and yielded only 19 sacks compared with 48 last year.ddddddddddddFlacco set career marks in yards passing (3,986) and touchdown passes (27). He produced comeback wins over Cleveland, Jacksonville and Miami in December but clearly would prefer not to work from behind against the Steelers.The biggest thing is just moving the ball and not giving them a lot of third-down chances to really get up and get going early on in the game, Flacco said. Weve probably hurt ourselves more so than anything with false starts and little things like that. And when you do that —especially on the road — you give their crowd a good chance to get into it and really get fired up. A three-and-out definitely energizes them, and usually it carries over to the next series. He speaks from experience. On Dec. 21 in Houston, the Ravens went three-and-out on four of their first five series, fell behind 16-0 at halftime and couldnt climb out of the hole.The biggest thing we have to do is move the ball early and get into the flow of the game, Flacco said.The Ravens were limited to only three points over the first three quarters against Cleveland last Sunday before pulling out a win with 17 points over the final 15 minutes. Sure, they might be able to do the same thing against the Steelers, but counting on that is dangerous.Slow starts, third downs, touchdowns in the red zone — especially when you play Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh — those are things you really need to do well, coach John Harbaugh said. We need to do better at those things if we expect to come out of there with a victory.___Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '