2016 Nfl Season:

As one would expect, there was not much of any positive takeaways from Buffalo writers or fans in the aftermath of the Bills loss to the Patriots on Sunday. Optimism was high in western New York after a four-game winning streak. After losses to the Dolphins and Pats and a game at Seattle on tap next week the mood their has taken a 180-degree turn.

Bill Belichick always says that you never really know what you have with a team until October. That’s when a team’s character starts to show.

Rex Ryan was reminded on Sunday how lucky he was earlier this month.

Gronkowski has faced the Bills 11 times and has 52 catches for 813 yards and 11 TDs. That works out to 76 catches for 1200 yards and 16TDs over 16 gms.

Tom Brady threw four touchdown passes to four different receivers and shortly after halftime, the results of this one were no longer in any doubt

In this edition TB12 honored Rob Gronkowski for setting a career franchise record 69th touchdown reception. I am not sure if Gronk is supposed to be a scientist, chef or both, but the score on the bottom of the picture says it all.

Week 8 is highlighted by a chance for the New England Patriots to avenge their only loss of the 2016 season. The Pats travel to Buffalo seeking their fourth straight win while the Bills look to rebound from last week’s loss to Miami.

Since taking over the starting duties in 2001, Brady is 25-3 against the Bills with one of those losses, a 16-9 regular season finale

Since the 2014 season, Tom Brady is 11-0 in October starts with an incredible 33 touchdowns and 1 interception. His passer rating is 124.3.

Brady’s record against teams that Ryan has either coached or been a defensive coordinator on is a stellar 12-4, with 27 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

The Pats passing game is a different one than the Bills faced in Gillette. With Brady back in the fold, the NE passing game is more dangerous than ever.

There are plenty of division rivalry games in Week Nine. The November schedule starts with Atlanta at Tampa Bay on Thursday 11/3. The Bucs shocked the Falcons 31-24 back in Week One at Atlanta. The Falcons rebounded to win four straight – including back-to-back victories over last season’s Super Bowl participants – but have lost their last two games.

Elsewhere Pittsburgh is at Baltimore for their biannual AFC North slugfest

Bill Belichick was asked if Lewis was indeed coming back to practice. In typical Belichick fashion, he answered laconically “If he is, we’ll let you know.”

Brown was the AFC Defensive Player of the Week when the two teams met a month ago. He made 18 tackles, had a sack and forced two fumbles.

The Steelers did their best to neutralize Gronk for most of Sunday’s game but at crunch time in the second half, he made key plays in the Patriots win.