The blowout loss to the Tennessee Titans may have left a bad taste in fans’ mouths heading into the bye week. Still, the New England Patriots are in good position for 2018.

Right now they’re 7-3 with a two-game lead in the AFC East and seemingly easy schedule ahead of them.

Yet, there are lingering concerns with the Patriots. They’re 2-3 on the road, the offense has gone quiet at times and the defense has been inconsistent.

During his weekly appearance on WEEI’s “Mut & Callahan” show, Tom Brady echoed some of those concerns. The team is winning, sure, but Brady knows the Patriots can do better.

So what did Brady do with his time off? He took a chance to reflect on everything the Patriots have done this year – and that means everything.

“I don’t think we’ve played our best football,” Brady said. “This is the time of year where we have a great opportunity ahead of us. I took a lot of time this weekend to watch the entire season a couple of times.”

Brady is an admitted film nut, so it’s little surprise to hear him diving into the film during his time off.

It’s not the same for everyone though. While Brady’s the sort of guy to dive further in, he said that some of his teammates use the bye week as a chance to unplug for a bit.

“We just had a lot of communication with our coaches and I think a lot of guys took the weekend to let their minds really be free of football for a few days. I am excited to start this week. We are in today and we basically work all week and then we head to New York. This time of year football season really flies by because you have the holidays and a lot of things going on, but we’ve put ourselves in a decent position.”

The Patriots return to action Sunday when they head to MetLife Stadium to face the New York Jets.

RAIDERS: Derek Carr missed Jalen Richard on a third-down pass in the second quarter and immediately heard all about it from Coach Jon Gruden as he walked to the Oakland Raiders’ sideline.

Carr was caught on television yelling right back at his coach in an exchange that repeated itself again in the fourth quarter and prompted many outsiders to point to it as a symbol of how bad things have gotten in this lost season for the Raiders.

To Carr and Gruden, it’s just a regular occurrence between two passionate people that just happened to be caught on camera during a 23-21 win for Oakland (2-8) over Arizona on Sunday.

“I don’t have a ‘no yelling’ sign on the sideline,” Gruden said Monday. “Things happen. We get excited down there. I get excited when we get a first down. Get excited when you work on something all week and it doesn’t work out. I get excited when he makes big plays, too. That’s just part of football. I think cameras can catch things sometimes that maybe make things look a little bit peculiar, but that happens.”

TITANS: Tennessee needs the extra day off before its next game both to allow injuries to heal and figure out what went wrong in its worst loss this season.

Marcus Mariota is recovering from a stinger that knocked him out of the Titans’ 38-10 loss to the Colts, not the elbow injury announced during the game. Coach Mike Vrabel said all tests were positive on defensive coordinator Dean Pees, who returned to Nashville on Monday. Pees spent a night in an Indianapolis hospital after an issue forced him from the coaches’ box early in the game.

BILLS: Quarterback Josh Allen will make his return to the starting lineup this week against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Allen missed four games after suffering an elbow injury in Buffalo’s Week 6 loss to the Houston Texans.

Washington: The team signed Mark Sanchez to serve as the backup to Colt McCoy, who becomes the starter after Alex Smith broke his right tibia and fibula in gruesome fashion.

Until Sunday, McCoy hadn’t thrown a pass in a regular-season game since 2015. Washington’s game against Dallas on Thanksgiving will be his first start since 2014, the same season he beat Dallas on the road on Monday night.

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