The only significant news from the Houston game was the Wes Welker injury. Other than that, what did we learn from this game? The offense still has trouble on the road in the second half. The defense still struggles against good quarterbacks. And as a team, the Patriots cannot put other teams away on the road. New England used the game as a situational practice opportunity. Tom Brady was not supposed to play that much. The injury to Welker forced Bill Belichick to play Brady and Randy Moss more than he may have wanted. The idea was to get Julian Edelman as much “real” time as was feasible. The Texans would have to cooperate because they needed to win. Moss had to be in the game to give Edelman and Brady the truest possible look. The Patriots believed the Houston game was inconsequential. I completely agree. My grades would be useless. I will grade the units for the entire season and look forward to what the Pats need for the playoffs — besides a little

FINALLY! This was the team we were expecting with the return of Tom Brady. Check that. This is what we were expecting plus some excellent defense. Sunday the Patriots gave their best effort of the season. Don't tell me about the Tennessee game. The Titans could not have beaten a Pop Warner team back then. This was a start-to-finish domination of a Jacksonville team that needed this game desperately. New England did not give the Jaguars the chance to even decide if they were going to show up. The Pats jumped on the Jags like Smerlas on a plate of chicken wings: with no mercy. OFFENSE : A Tom Brady was as close to perfect as you can get. He was as on target as he has been all year. The one thing I noticed was a lack of deep throws, but that was not a problem because he was so good with every other throw. That no-look duck of the outside pass rush was beautiful. Just refer back to almost any of the previous report cards and my grade for Wes Welker is going to be the same.

Thank goodness the AFC East sucks. The Patriots, as bland as they are playing, will win the division. So why does watching the Patriots play feel like winning a dollar on a dollar scratch ticket? Simple: Because it is better than losing. There is little excitement about the Patriots right now, after Sunday's 17-10 win over the Bills. Only a pompom-waving New England fan can look at this team and be optimistic about the playoffs. This is not to say that with two convincing wins over the Jaguars and the Texans the Patriots will not capture the attention of more of the faithful. But if the Patriots play like they have the last month or so, most of the local and national attention will be elsewhere. OFFENSE: D The offense was inconsistent, unproductive and somewhat predictable. Add it up and it gets you a mediocre performance at best. Mediocre? Against the Bills? To quote Chad Ochocinco, “Child, please.” There is plenty of blame to go around for the offensive

An average NFL quarterback could have won this game for the Carolina Panthers. The combination of New England's limited pass rush and a below-average secondary would have any offensive coordinator licking his chops. Fortunately for the Patriots, Matt Moore was throwing ducks all over the field. And the Panthers were undisciplined and incapable of capitalizing on numerous Patriots mistakes. OFFENSE: C- In an unusual twist, it was the running game that brought the Patriots' overall grade up to a C-minus. The passing game was below average on the whole. The lackluster first quarter for the offense was as poor an opening performance as this offense has had all year. Tom Brady played OK. Unfortunately, OK is no longer enough. This offense will need to be better than OK to get into the playoffs. Brady had some overthrows, but the drops were a problem also. Randy Moss is struggling, to say the least. If there is an injury that we do not know of, that is one thing. But if not, this cannot go