Through the first five games of the season, the Patriots have been able to hold some very good tight ends in check:

Miami’s Anthony Fasano: five catches, 82 yards.
San Diego’s Antonio Gates: zero catches (backup Randy McMichael had one catch for six yards).
Buffalo’s Scott Chandler: two catches, 10 yards, one touchdown.
Oakland’s Kevin Boss: four catches, 78 yards.
New York’s Dustin Keller: one catch, seven yards (backup Matthew Mulligan had one catch for four yards).

That adds up to 14 catches for 187 yards and one touchdown, an average of three catches for 37.4 yards per game. Those are the best numbers for the New England pass defense against any opposing skill position group. Through five games, running backs have 41 catches, 385 receiving yards and two touchdowns against New England, while wide receivers have 59 receptions, 938 receiving yards and six touchdowns and fullbacks have one catch for two yards.

The Patriots have gotten lucky on occasion -- Gates has been hobbled all season long by a foot injury, while Buffalo chose to go to its outside receivers instead of Chandler. And some teams just haven’t utilized their tight ends properly. But in a year where they’ve faced some of the best tight ends in the game (including Keller, who had roasted them on an seemingly annual basis until last Sunday), the New England defense has certainly done enough to limit the damage done against them at the tight end position.

Coverage packages against opposing tight ends have varied from week-to-week. Against the Chargers, they threw everything they had at Gates, who was often forced to fight through multiple defenders for even the smallest sliver of daylight. And on Sunday, it appeared to be a variety of coverages against Keller. There was some man work by cornerbacks like Leigh Bodden, some zone involving safeties like James Ihedigbo (who had the tackle on Keller’s lone catch, a third-and-seven pass play that came up a yard shy of the first down marker) and even some linebackers on occasion.

“I’ve got to give them credit,” Keller said after Sunday’s game. “They played well against us, for the most part.”

On Sunday, the Patriots will face another Pro Bowl tight end in Dallas’ Jason Witten, who leads the Cowboys with 27 catches and 366 yards (he’s also got one touchdown). Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Witten is dangerous because he can contribute on so many levels -- he’s a “point of attack” blocker and a versatile pass-catcher who can beat you on short, intermediate and deep routes.

“He’s outstanding,” Belichick said of the 6-foot-6, 265-pound Witten, a seven-time Pro Bowler. “He’s really a complete player. He’s a smart guy. They move him around a lot. They put him in motion, put him outside, put him in inside, and put him in the slot. They have different personnel groups where they use him in conjunction with other tight ends and other receivers. It just makes it a little harder to figure out where he is and how to get him.

“I think he’s one of the best tight ends in the league, no question about it.”

So how would the Patriots go about defending Witten? Former New England tight end Christian Fauria said the Patriots will try to get physical.

“When it comes to stopping a tight end, the important thing is just jamming them at the line of scrimmage to make his release as tough as possible,” Fauria said. “Just make it as tough as possible for them to get through traffic. Whenever we would play against an elite tight end, the goal was always to beat the crap out of them. It was always about getting a defensive end, and then a linebacker in his face before getting to the safety, so he had to go through three levels of crap even before he even caught the pass.

“Now, Witten is a big sucker, and the thing with him, is that they flex him out a lot to get a free release to set up the whole play-action thing,” he added. “And he can run. You almost have to treat him like a receiver -- knock him down and not let him get going.”

The good news for the Patriots? They don’t have to look too far for a tight end with the same skill set to get them ready for Witten. Simply put, Rob Gronkowski has many of the same earmarks to his game as Witten. The 6-foot-6, 265-pound Gronkowski is a big, physical blocker with good hands who can also beat you in the passing game.

“Essentially, the Patriots will be facing Rob Gronkowski,” said Sam Monson of the analytical site Pro Football Focus. “Witten is a big, strong, quick tight end that is a great receiver and blocker. He can handle defensive linemen, certainly linebackers in the run game, and he can beat most players in coverage with slick route-running skills. He is very fluid in his movement and always seems to get open, despite not looking like the world’s most fearsome athlete.”

While he doesn’t have the same accomplished resume as Witten, measuring their respective worths as a receiver, Gronkowski actually appears to be further along than Witten was at the same stage of his career. Through the first 21 games of his pro career, Witten had 57 catches for 542 yards and two touchdowns. In his first 21 games in the NFL, Gronkowski has 64 catches for 873 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Of course, Gronkowski has become far more integral to the success of the Patriots than Witten was at the same stage of his career (he did have 87 catches in his second season, 2004, but didn’t become a top-flight receiver until his 96-catch season in 2007 when he became the acknowledged favorite of Dallas quarterback Tony Romo.)

Belichick said there are “some similarities” between Gronkowski and Witten.

“I don’t know if we know Witten well enough to even compare him to Gronkowski. He’s obviously got a lot of skills -- we have to try to figure out how to deal with them,” Belichick said. “I think both guys are similar in that they can block. They’re productive in the running game, and the passing game. You have tough matchups in both spots.”