Pick Six: Week Seven

Seven games down and the Patriots are back where they are supposed to be: atop the AFC East. It wasn’t as smooth as years past, but it’s understood with QB Tom Brady back after a season on the sideline and a defense that went through a lot of change.

The bottom line is New England is 5-2 with a bye week ahead of them. What perfect timing! They’re already in London, England. Why not hang out a little for a vacation before coming back home?

1: Welcome to the NFL, Brandon Tate. The rookie receiver was activated from the non-football injury/reserved list and no time was wasted getting him into the game. Two kickoff returns for 44 isn’t much, but his success is just getting back on the field after tearing his ACL.

2. One of the Killer B’s, Brandon Merriweather, had his first career two interception game. The icing on the cake was returning one 39 yards for his first career touchdown. Nothing beats the first score, but I expect him to do it again this season.

3. Two more firsts: S Pat Chung’s first sack and Sam Aiken’s first career touchdown. Aiken’s TD was special, and not just how he escaped a couple of tackles. He had to wait until his seventh season for this moment. So he got a contract extension early last week within seven days, Aiken caught his first TD. Life is good.

4. Even though it wasn’t his best game, Brady got a share of a team record for career 300-yard games. He will briefly share the top spot with Drew Bledsoe.

5. A few streaks: 14 straight games with at least one takeaway. This win was the 16^th straight against an NFC team. And the road losing streak is snapped at just two. The Pats had to go a long way for their first road win of the season.

6. It was the first time since week 15 of 2008 that K Stephen Gostkowski didn’t attempt a field goal. That was a 49-26 win over Oakland. Gostkowski has five other games in which he didn’t kick a field goal. All wins. Good trend.

Two Points: With Tate playing for the first time, G Rich Ohrnberger and OT George Bussey are the only two of twelve rookies on the active roster to not play a down. LB Tyrone McKenzie is on injured reserve…P Chris Hanson had a punt blocked for the first time since 2007. That ends a streak of 75 clean punts.