Afc East:

The best game features the reigning Super Bowl champs versus a team that hasn’t been to the playoffs for 14 years. Denver travels to Oakland in a battle of AFC West rivals on Sunday night. Both clubs are 6-2, tied for the division lead – and one game behind the Patriots for home field in the AFC playoff race. The Raiders won the last meeting in December to snap an eight game losing streak to the Broncos.

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.

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.

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

The 6-1 New England Patriots and 4-3 Buffalo Bills renew their rivalry in Week 8. The AFC East clubs meet for the 114th time since the American Football League’s inception in 1960. The Patriots lead the series 69-43-1 and would love to avenge their sole loss on the 2016 season. The game kicks off at 1:00 pm eastern time at New Era Field in Orchard Park, New York.

On Monday the Patriots were listed as 6½ point road favorites.

5-1 New England will travel to Pittsburgh to face the 4-2 Steelers at Heinz Field in the marquee game of NFL Week 7. The Patriots are favored by 7.

Week 8 features a rematch between New England and Buffalo. In the first game between these two original AFL rivals at Foxboro the Bills handed the Patriots their sole loss of the season. With rookie Jacoby Brisset under center Buffalo dominated, shutting the Pats out 16-0. Even though the Patriots are on the road against a 4-2, the handicappers at the Westgate have listed the Pats as the second biggest favorite of the week.

The New England Patriots will take part in what will be the NFL’s biggest game next Sunday as the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Pats. The highly anticipated contest lost a bit of its luster with Ben Roethlisberger suffering an unfortunate knee injury. Big Ben will be out for a few weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee suffered in Sunday’s upset loss at Miami. The outcome of this game could go a long ways to determining who has home field advantage in the AFC playoffs next January.

The game kicks off at 4:25 pm eastern time Sunday. CBS will broadcast the game on every one of their affiliates in the United States with the exception (thanks to archaic NFL/FCC rules) of Atlanta and San Francisco. Jim Nantz will announce the play-by-play with Phil Simms will handling the commentary.

After an impressive 33-13 victory at Cleveland, the Patriots return to Foxboro to face the Cincinnati Bengals. Gillette Stadium will be rocking for the 2016 home debut of Tom Brady after his four game Article 46 exile. With clear skies and only a slight breeze perhaps the wine and cheese crowd might even remain in their red seats and brave the 67° forecasted temperature to view TB12 live, rather than retreating to the Putnam Club lounge.

The game kicks off at 1:00 pm eastern time with fairly extensive nationwide coverage by CBS. Ian Eagle will handle the play-by-play duties, with Dan Fouts adding in the commentary. Why these two are considered by CBS to be the number two broadcast team while the Greg Gumbel-Trent Green duo is third is baffling.

After a lethargic and underwhelming performance against the Buffalo Bills, the New England Patriots look to get back on track at Cleveland on Sunday. In case you have just awoken from a coma, Tom Brady will be starting his first game of the season after Roger Goodell’s Article 46 triumph. Vegas expects the Patriots to win this game with ease, listing the Pats as a rare double-digit road favorite.

The Patriots host Cincinnati and are listed as seven-point favorites. Last week the Bengals handled Miami with ease, though a disconcerting habit of settling for field goals kept the final score relatively close at 22-7. The Bengal defense looked much better with the return of Vontaze Burfict from his suspension

What is not a surprise is that the New England Patriots are the week’s largest favorite. The Pats are giving away ten and a half points even though they are on the road, albeit at Cleveland.

The NFL Week 4 schedule brings us two firsts of the season. Sunday morning CBS will broadcast the first of three games being played in England this season, and it also marks the first byes. The Jaguars will play in London for the fourth consecutive year, and last year they extended their agreement to play overseas through 2020. This will be the Jags’ first division game at Wembley Stadium. For the Indianapolis Colts this will be their first trip to the UK.

There are only a handful of venues that have posted a line on the Patriots-Bills game. CG Technology is the only Vegas parlor to publish odds on this game, listing the Pats as 4½ point favorites. Three offshore sites are split at either four or four and a half points.

The Seahawks will have to travel across three time zones to play an early game, and that is never an easy task. While the Jet defense may not have shown much in the first two games, they have the talent to shut down a Seattle offense that has stumbled thus far with a completely revamped offensive line still searching for effective synergy.