Week 13:

We know the story lines in New England after the Patriots’ 26-10 victory at Gillette Stadium on Sunday. Here are a handful of reactions from the City of Angels and beyond. The Rams lost for the seventh time in their last eight games. For what it is worth it is safe to say that Bill Belichick owns Jeff Fisher. In the last three games between the two head coaches the Hoodie’s squads are 3-0, outscoring Fisher’s clubs by a combined score of 130-17.

The big story of course was that Brady won his 201st game at quarterback, to set an NFL all-time record. The Patriots advanced to 10-2 to remain in the top slot in the AFC playoff picture. With Miami losing at Baltimore the Pats are now up three games in the AFC East with only four games remaining in the regular season.

NFL fans are treated to five games between a pair of teams with winning records in Week 13. KC at Atlanta and Miami at Baltimore in the early time slot compete with the Rams at Patriots, and then Buffalo at Oakland and Giants at Pittsburgh are a pair of compelling late games.

The Patriots-Rams game will be broadcast in all or parts of 24 states on Sunday. The Fox telecast will be announced by Kevin Burkhardt, with John Lynch providing the commentary. Game kicks off at 1:00 pm at Gillette Stadium.

After two weeks on the road the Pats return home to Foxborough to take on the Los Angeles Rams. For those of you that will not be at Gillette Stadium the game will be on FOX rather than CBS, announced by Kevin Burhardt and John Lynch. After too many games with Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts this will be a treat. We rarely hear Lynch since he works for FOX and does NFC games.

For the third consecutive week the New England Patriots were listed as the heaviest favorite in these early odds. After two weeks on the road the Pats return to Gillette Stadium. The Westgate lists the Patriots as 14 point home favorites against Los Angeles.

Philadelphia rookie CB Eric Rowe gets his first NFL start Sunday, and it against a New England team that since 2003 is 38-4 coming off a loss and is 52-8 in the month of December since 2001.

Week 13’s best game is between Seattle, who just went over .500 for the first time all season, and Minnesota, who ranks 25th in the league in scoring. The only other game with two winning clubs involves a pair of 6-5 teams: the under achieving Colts with a 40-year old backup QB, and a Pittsburgh defense that has given up 39 and 35 points in recent games. NFL fans deserve better than this.

For those of you living in the southeastern United States that don’t have the Sunday Ticket, it’s another Sunday off to the local sports bar if you want to catch the Pats; for the rest of the country, you will be able to see the Patriots from the comfort of your living room couch.

Unbeaten Carolina is just a 3½ point favorite against a struggling Saints defense in New Orleans; Miami is favored by 6½ (granted, it is against the Ravens); Minnesota is a 1½ point home underdog against Seattle; and Dallas was listed as a three-point road favorite at Washington – though to be fair, this was prior to Tony Romo’s injury on Thanksgiving Day. It is also interesting to note that there are more favorites playing on the road (nine) than home favorites (just six).