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All eyes are on the New England Patriots this weekend, as they could become the first 10-win team of the 2025 NFL season when they take on the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday (1 p.m. ET).
Two of the franchise’s biggest stars, former players Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman, broke down how they feel about their former team’s performance so far this season and what to expect next on “FOX NFL Sunday.”
Gronkowski, who was just recently in attendance for the Patriots’ Week 11 win over the New York Jets at home in Massachusetts last week, believes that there’s something special happening with the Patriots this season.
“There’s a lot of energy right now in Foxborough,” Gronkowski said. “It was so great to be back, and you felt that type of energy even on a Thursday night game with a short week. Are the Patriots the best team in the AFC? I think so because they know how to be coached, and they know how to take that coaching and apply it to the field as well.
“They have an offense and a defense that knows how to work together. They play complementary football out there all the time, and they learn from their mistakes. … The Patriots, they’re the real deal.”
Gronk thinks Patriots are the BEST team in the AFC 👀 Too early to say they are CONTENDERS?
New England (9-2) sits atop the AFC East and is tied with AFC West-leading Denver for the best record in the division.
“I think it’s too early in the season to just go out and determine [who] is the most effective crew within the AFC,” Edelman countered. “We do not know an excessive amount of about this crew in these later elements of the season, which is crucial half.
“… I am not turning on New England, however I am simply not attempting to place the jinx on them. … We have to exit, we have to be taught. We have to get higher.”
Forward of Week 12, the Patriots rank second in whole passing yards (2,685), third in whole offensive yards (3,927), seventh in passing yards per recreation (244.1) and factors per recreation (26.5) and ninth in offensive yards per recreation (357.0). Quarterback Drake Maye‘s 2,836 passing yards lead the league and his 20 touchdowns are the fourth-most amongst signal-callers, whereas his 4 interceptions on the season are tied for 59th.
New England began the season on a rocky observe, dropping two of its first three video games. Gronkowski went on so as to add that this is able to’ve been the opportune window for different AFC East groups to capitalize whereas the Patriots have been down.
“Bye bye, Buffalo,” he mentioned. The Payments, who sit behind the Patriots within the division at 7-4, are a chief instance of this. They began the season sturdy however fell right into a rut in early October simply because the Patriots have been getting their groove again.
Gronkowski, a 12-year NFL veteran who formally retired in 2022, revealed earlier this month that he was signing a one-day contract with the New England “to retire as a Patriot and be a Patriot for all times.”
A second-round draft choose by New England in 2010, Gronkowski performed for the Pats from 2010-18, profitable three Tremendous Bowls with the franchise and cementing himself as one of many NFL’s all-time best tight ends. After a yr of retirement, he continued his enjoying profession with the Bucs from 2020-21, reuniting with future Corridor of Fame quarterback and good good friend Tom Brady and profitable Tremendous Bowl LV.
Edelman, additionally a 12-year NFL veteran, was a seventh-round draft choose by New England in 2009. He performed for the Pats from 2009-20, profitable three Tremendous Bowls with the franchise and one Tremendous Bowl MVP en path to being inducted into the New England Patriots Corridor of Fame. He retired in 2021.
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