John Saunders Jr. was in Miami getting ready for another day on the Dolphins practice squad when his phone rang. Eliot Wolf was on the other end, and he told the rookie safety that the Patriots were signing him to their 53-man roster.

You can’t ask much more of the Patriots (aside from not losing to the Raiders at home in Week 1). Drake Maye has been near an MVP level, they have a huge win at Buffalo and lead the AFC East. New England has benefitted from a very soft schedule, but they’ve mostly handled business against bad teams.

The NFC South-leading Buccaneers are coming off their bye week and are slight home favorites (-2.5), while the Patriots, leaders in the AFC East, extended their winning streak to six with a 24-23 win over the Falcons last Sunday.

Turnover differential: Falcons plus-2; Patriots plus-2. The Falcons offense runs through Bijan Robinson, the dual-threat running back with 962 all-purpose yards and four total touchdowns through seven games.

This could be a potential trap game for the Patriots against a 3-4 Falcons team coming off back-to-back losses. Atlanta has a regular season win over the Buffalo Bills, and they also have the best passing defense in the league. The team will also get ...