Rob Gronkowski, LeGarrette Blount, Julian Edelman in Week 4 vs. Bills

His four-game Deflategate sentence served, Tom Brady will be allowed to return to work Monday.

Without Brady as their starting quarterback for their beginning of the season the New England Patriots once feared dropping their first four games. In both of those games, the New England Patriots dominated the fourth quarters and held the ball for 9:03 in the first game and 9:06 in the second game.

A 2-2 start for many included wins over the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets in Week 1 and Week 2, respectively.

Our models expect both quarterbacks to see some action, projecting them to throw for a combined 268 yards with 1.61 touchdowns and 0.89 interceptions against the Bills in Week 4. With Brissett also battling a thumb injury sustained in the game against the Texans.

After compiling over 200 yards rushing last week, the Bills, led by running back LeSean McCoy, are ready to carry the momentum into New England.

When the Buffalo Bills schedule was released this offseason, 2-2 seemed… do-able.

The quarterback was listed as doubtful due to his shoulder injury in the final injury report before Thursday night’s game, meaning his chances of playing are slim. Without Watkins, the Bills probably won’t have a choice but to try to establish McCoy, which they did successfully last week as McCoy gained 110 of Buffalo’s 208 rushing yards.

Everyone knows that Tom Brady is out for four weeks as he serves his suspension.

And while Rex Ryan is busy being preoccupied with wondering if – and likely hoping – Edelman will play quarterback tomorrow, the wideout is already being productive enough in his natural position to make the Bills coach wary. That’s especially true after the Bills averted spiraling into crisis with their 33-18 win over Arizona last week. Garoppolo’s is closer to the original system, however, it appears as though certain elements such as making pre-snap adjustments and pre-determined reads have been streamlined for the young players. Most importantly, he has shown great command of the offense.

“I’ll say that’s a true statement”, Ryan said. “With all those guys still there, I built up a lot of good relationships over there”.

Even with Garoppolo now hurt, and possibly unable to play the next two games, the fact remains that he was a stand in.

“I like the talent that we have here”, he said. Blount still gets solid yards beyond 20 carries, but in his sweet spot, he is unstoppable and for that, he is the National Football League rushing leader and AFC Offensive Player of the Month.

BLOUNT FORCE: While New England has been forced to shuffle quarterbacks, RB LeGarrette Blount has been a constant on offense.