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FOXBORO - With numbers like the ones Tom Brady has posted thus far this season, the NFL may have to consider retiring the AFC Player of the Week trophy before season's end.

Brady, who tied a personal career high with four touchdown passes in Sunday's game against the Bills, earned his first offensive player of the week award Wednesday. It's not likely to be his last this year.

Brady posted a career-high 150.9 passer rating in the 38-7 win over Buffalo, completing 23 of 29 passes (79.3 percent) for 311 yards.

"I think this is the most comfortable I've felt with it," Brady said Wednesday about how he's clicking with the offense. "For eight years I've put a lot of time and effort into trying to get things the way I want them. There's a lot that goes into throwing, the mechanics of it.

"It's not just coincidence that you complete certain passes that maybe you struggled with in the past," he said. "It's probably just better technique. And obviously, there are a lot of other great things in the passing game, too, like great protection, which allows for good technique, and the receivers doing a great job of getting open and catching the ball." With the Patriots trailing 7-3 midway through the second quarter, Brady led the Patriots on two scoring drives that ended in touchdown passes to take a 17-7 lead at halftime. In the second half, Brady tossed touchdown passes of 4 and 45 yards to cap the win.

In his eighth year out Michigan, Brady has won eight Player of the Week awards.

Tennessee's Keith Bulluck earned the defensive player award, and kick returner Yamon Figurs of Baltimore earned the special teams award.

Take the under

Bill Belichick always likes to paint opposing teams as if they're the reincarnation of the 1972 Dolphins, and it was anticipated Wednesday that he would wear out the adjective "explosive" in describing the offensive prowess of the Cincinnati Bengals during his scheduled press conference.

True to expectations, Belichick called the Bengals "explosive" three times in the first 2 minutes and 12 seconds of the press conference. But then he disappointed by using the adjective only once more.

The Bengals, who have posted 1,179 yards of total offense (to the Patriots' 1,323) and have just a 1-2 record to show for it, will get a chance to prove their explosiveness to the Patriots Monday night at Paul Brown Stadium (8:30 p.m.; ESPN, Ch. 5).

Injury report

There were a few new names in the "limited participation in practice" category on Wednesday's injury report.

Rosevelt Colvin (ankle), Randall Gay (thigh), Laurence Maroney (groin) and Vince Wilfork (shoulder) joined Stephen Neal (shoulder), Donté Stallworth (knee), Kelley Washington (hamstring), Eugene Wilson (ankle) and Billy Yates (shoulder) on the list. Tom Brady was listed as having fully participated in practice despite his five-year battle with a sore shoulder.

Don't adjust your set

The Bengals may provide the ultimate test to your new HDTV receiver Monday night, because they're scheduled to wear their day-glo orange jerseys and white pants in the game against the Patriots.

Since adopting the orange "third jersey" in 2004, the Bengals have won six games … three while wearing white pants, and three in black pants.