Patriots Player of the Week: Tom Brady

The 33-year-old Alexander entered the game with an NFL-leading nine sacks, doubling the number he had in his first nine seasons. When he kept saying it was Bill Belichick, I knew he was serious.

Gronkowski leads all tight ends in National Football League history with an average of 70.2 receiving yards per game.

Afterward, Ryan basically conceded the division to the Patriots, who now lead Buffalo by three games.

“He uses his body well, but he’s got Tom Brady”, Bills safety Corey Graham said, according to Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. If he needs to continuing pushing the “Tom Brady is a cheater” narrative to help him sleep at night, then more power to him. Blount hasn’t been asked to do as much since Brady’s return – he’s topped 20 carries just once with Brady under center – but did turn that into a season-best 127 yards in Pittsburgh. Brady is the greatest quarterback that’s ever lived, and it’s not even close. He has a ludicrous catch radius and remarkable speed for his size.

Rob Gronkowski can rarely be stopped.

The story also had a happy ending. “I mean, that’s Day One-type stuff”, said the NFL’s sack leader, who played only one quarter due to a hamstring injury and had to watch helplessly on the sideline. “Bennett is probably a better blocker”.

I got a phone call and it was Bill Belichick.

Gronk’s greatness can still be debated among all receivers, but if he retired tomorrow, he’d be the most prolific touchdown-scoring machine for a tight end in National Football League history. Why did New England win? But it’d be nice if this kid gets a touchdown.

TE Martellus Bennett on a late-game shoving match between several players on both sides following LeGarrette Blount’s 1-yard touchdown run: “That’s just what it is”. Gronkowski has 23 in his career, and trails Gonzalez with 31 and Kellen Winslow, Sr. with 24. And No. 12 (Tom Brady) is back, so yeah, I don’t see that happening (winning the division). Though he’s averaging just 3.8 yards a carry, his 609 yards have him on pace for 1,200 yards on the season, well past his rookie high of 1,006 yards.

One positive to take away from the Bills’ offense is their ability to hang on to the ball. It’s entirely possible that Gronkowski could match Winslow next week, in his 87th game.

“Obviously, we weren’t good enough”, Bills coach Rex Ryan said. He says he’s feeling pretty good at the midway point as the Patriots hit their bye week at 7-1, but he knows there is a lot left to prove on the field. “When you play against a guy in your division and we’ve done this a few times – even like with Wes, we played against Wes a bunch, and Wes had some turnover with their coaches down in Miami – and then we were like, ‘Wow we’ve been playing against Wes for a long time and this guy’s been a great player. So, hopefully, (the injury) doesn’t last too long”.