Chandler Jones Named AFC Defensive Player of the Month; Tom Brady Named AFC Offensive Player of the Week

Coming off the glow of Sunday night's unforgettable comeback win vs. Denver, the Patriots (8-3) had a little more to celebrate this afternoon as defensive end Chandler Jones was named AFC Defensive Player of the Month for November and Tom Brady earned the AFC Offensive Player of the Week honor for his stellar game against the Broncos.

With his sack of Peyton Manning, Jones (10.5 sacks) became only the 10th player in franchise history to reach double-digit sacks. With five more games, he has plenty of time to really add to his already impressive total. In three games in November, he had nine tackles, eight assists and four sacks. For the season, he is credited with 32 tackles, 29 assists and one forced fumble. In his second season, Jones has made the leap that Patriots fans were hoping for. Outside of maybe Rob Ninkovich, he is the most important player on New England's defense since he consistently pressures the quarterback.

Unlike Manning who sneaky hates to play in the cold (why'd he choose Denver?), Brady always thrives when the weather is at its worst. Sunday was no different since he went 34 of 50 for 344 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Because of his own natural aging and loss of many key weapons at one time or another, this has been far from Brady's best season of his legendary career. He is 257 of 430 (59.8%) for 2896 yards, 17 touchdowns and seven interceptions. The good news is that with Rob Gronkowski, Danny Amendola and Shane Vereen all healthy the last two weeks, New England's offense has been much more dangerous.

The Patriots are comfortably in second place in the AFC and the AFC East division title is a given with a three-game lead on the Jets and Dolphins. As usual, their schedule down the stretch is one cupcake after the next as they don't play another team over .500 the rest of the way. Haha how is that even possible? They visit the Texans (2-9) on Sunday (1, CBS), oh by the way Houston has lost its last nine games in a row.

UPDATE 11/30: The Patriots re-signed Green and Forston to the practice squad.

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Chandler Jones Named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month (September)

So how do you like the Patriots' 2012 draft class? The early returns on their choices, particularly the first-round picks defensive end Chandler Jones and linebacker Dont'a Hightower along with second-round pick safety Tavon Wilson look excellent. Today, Jones-the former Syracuse standout-was named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month for September.

New England was an uneven 2-2 in September but if their record mirrored Jones' impact and output, they would be one of the NFL's few unbeaten squads left. He has been on the field on virtually every defensive play no matter what the formation or scenario they face. He has put up 17 tackles (9 solo, 8 assists) along with three sacks and two forced fumbles (one which Hightower returned for a TD against the Titans).

The loss to the Ravens was the one game where Jones looked like a rookie (2 assists). In the other three contests, he produced identical lines of five tackles (3 solo, 2 assists), a sack and run stuff. The other forced fumble was in Week 2 against Arizona.

I hate getting ahead of myself but you have to admit that the sky appears to be the limit for Jones. As he grows and develops more pass rushing moves, there is little doubt that he could become one of the premiere defensive players in the AFC. This award validates that and shows how much unlimited potential he possesses. For Patriots fans, when's the last time we had someone like that on the team?

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