Hope you're enjoying a day off on what is a gorgeous Columbus Day here in New England. Your mind, though, might still be on yet another Patriots victory – a hard-fought 30-21 win over the New York Jets – and if so, you're not alone. The victory keeps Bill Belichick's Patriots in a tie atop the AFC East with 4-1 Buffalo. New York, meanwhile, is reeling with a 2-3 record and three straight road losses.
We're going to put the finishing touches on yesterday's game when we talk with BB in about 90 minutes at the head coach's weekly press conference (2 p.m.), and then whatever players are hanging around the locker room thereafter. After that, it'll be time to refocus on Week 6.
So … how 'bout them Cowboys?
That's the question we'll be tackling this week, as the Dallas Cowboys prepare to make a rare visit to Foxborough this Sunday at 4:15. The 2-2 'Boys are coming off a bye week and could easily be either 4-0 or 0-4 the way they've played in the first quarter of the season.
Team PFW will guide you through the week, as always, with multiple multi-media offerings. On Tuesday, there's the usual slate of conference calls with Bill and some of his staff. Fred, Paul, and Andy will also be shooting this Thursday's PFW TV episode, in and kicking off patriots.com radio broadcast week, starting at noon tomorrow.
Wednesday through Friday, we'll be reporting on practice and locker room interviews, so, keep your Twitter feed handy and a web browser open to the PFW blog for updates. Bill will also hold media briefings on Wednesday and Friday. And Patriots.com radio is on air Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, starting at noon each day.
Saturday is an off day, of course, but come Sunday, we'll be back at it with the Patriots Pre-Game Social radio show on the Patriots' Facebook page. With kickoff at 4:15, the show will air live from 2 – 4 p.m. Eastern.
Seems like New England got through the Jets game relatively unscathed, in terms of injuries. Co-captain Matthew Slater suffered a fourth-quarter rib injury and wasn't looking too lively in the post-game locker room, so, we'll have to keep tabs on him. And Aaron Hernandez looked and sounded fine following the game, playing on a left knee that clearly wasn't 100 percent.
All things considered, the Patriots are in as good a shape as can be expected with just Dallas standing between them and their bye week … and a 5-1 record. Buffalo faces an NFC East foe as well this week, traveling to the Meadowlands to take on the Giants, meaning with a little luck, New England could head into their bye week alone on top of the AFC East.
