The Best Week of Jonas Gray's Life Continues

Can you imagine being Jonas Gray? After not being drafted and bouncing around three different NFL practice squads, he finally get his opportunity and did he ever make the most of it on Sunday Night Football as the Patriots (8-2) embarrassed the Colts (6-4) 42-20. Gray's 37 carries, 201 yards (after the stat correction) and four touchdowns (setting a franchise regular season record) resulted in him being on the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated and it also earned him the AFC Offensive Player of the Week award.

What can we expect from Gray in the last six regular season games and playoffs, starting with Sunday's meeting (1, Fox) vs. Lions (7-3) at Gillette Stadium? It's a cop out but who could reasonably answer that? Obviously, he won't be putting up 200-yard games every week but as long as he continues to churn out positive gains and hangs onto the ball, that's all the Pats need. With no Stevan Ridley for the rest of this campaign, Gray is the only other running back on New England's current roster that can consistently run inside between the tackles.

Ironically, the former Patriot that he most closely resembles in terms of size and running style-LeGarrette Blount-was released yesterday by the Steelers. It makes you wonder if the Pats would bring him back, remember he was on the cover of SI last winter as well after running for four touchdowns vs. Indy in the AFC Divisional game. I'm not a huge Blount fan, he is unquestionably a bozo but if Gray got hurt or struggled, Blount would be a suitable replacement plus he already knows the vaunted system.

This is all just talk radio/Twitter/interwebs fodder, for now we should enjoy this moment because who knows how much longer it will last for our guy Gray who once tried to be a stand-up comedian and even opened up for Dustin Diamond aka Screech from Saved By the Bell. Haha don't believe me? Look it up.

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LeGarrette Blount Named AFC Offensive Player of the Week

Granted it means absolutely nothing headed into the playoffs but for what it's worth, Patriots running back LeGarrette Blount was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his career-best game against the Bills on Sunday, a 34-20 Patriots win.

Blount rushed for 189 yards with two touchdowns and also returned a pair of kickoffs for 83 and 62 yards respectively (setting a new team record with 334 all-purpose yards in one game). Obviously Buffalo won't be in the postseason (that's not allowed in this century) so you can't expect a Tecmo Bowl style output like that. Still, he has firmly established himself as New England's No. 1 running back and he will get more carries than Stevan Ridley for as long as the Patriots advance.

The Pats have a week to heal up, dry out from Sunday's monsoon and figure out who they'll meet next Saturday night (8:15, CBS) at Gillette Stadium-either the Colts, Chiefs or Bengals. LeGarrette was the second Patriot to earn this award this season, following Tom Brady after Week 12's epic comeback vs. Denver.

UPDATE 1/2: Austin Collie was re-signed for the third time this season.

UPDATE 1/3: Josh Boyce was put on IR so we know why Collie was brought back. What a forgettable rookie season for the fourth round pick.

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Happy Tom Brady Day From The NFL

It is only right that on Tom Brady Day (12/12/12), our lord and savior was honored by the NFL with yet another AFC Offensive Player of the Week award. It is the 23rd of his career which pushes him ahead of Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.

In Monday night's beatdown of the Houston Texans, Brady was 21-of-35 for 296 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions plus that nifty six-yard run for a first down that featured him getting the crowd pumped up afterwards. His total quarterback rating was 95.6 with a passer rating of 125.4. Just like that performance showed that New England (10-3) is the team to beat in the AFC and maybe the NFL, Brady's MVP candidacy received a significant bump thanks to the Monday Night Football spotlight.

Brady and his team have another great chance to build their impressive resume on Sunday night (8:20 p.m., NBC) as they host the San Francisco 49ers (9-3-1), who are one of the top teams in the NFC and the NFL.

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Happy Halloween To Tom Brady, Gisele & The Kids

With the Patriots enjoying the bye week and the only real break during the grueling NFL regular season, quarterback Tom Brady was named the AFC's Offensive Player of the Week today for the second time this season (after Week 4, October 3).

It's hard to picture a much more efficient but still spectacular performance by TB12 than the one he turned in on Sunday during New England's (5-3) 45-7 rout of St. Louis (3-5) at London's Wembley Stadium. He was 23 of 35 for 305 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. His rating of 131.1 was a season-high and it eclipsed the 120.1 against the Bills that earned the first award.

Whenever Brady has a good game, he always seems to break or tie some sort of record and this week was no exception. This was the 22nd time he's been named AFC Offensive Player of the Week, tying Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning. Additionally, it was the ninth time in his career that he's thrown for 300+ yards, four TDs and no INTs which ties Saints quarterback Drew Brees for an NFL record. He also became only the fourth quarterback in NFL history to throw for 300+ yards 50 times in his career.

After a bumpy start to the season, the Pats and Brady have won two in a row and put together their most impressive game against the Rams. It's no coincidence that he has pushed back into the NFL MVP discussion with 16 TDs, 3 INTs and an NFL-leading 2408 passing yards. Midway through the regular season, things are looking up in Foxborough. Happy Halloween everybody!

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