PATRIOTS at LIONS

8:20 p.m., Pats by 6 ½, 50

HANK’S HONEYS: Matt Patricia meets his mentor – and his match. It doesn’t matter if the Rocket Scientist matches X’s and O’s with the Genius. If your defense is allowing a league-high 38 ppg, you’re going to need more than strategy to stop Tom Brady. Brady won’t waste time using his new plaything in Josh Gordon, whose potential will finally be reached after working with a string of awful QBs in Cleveland. And while Gordon stretches the field, Rob Gronkowski lurks underneath. Of course, the Lions can’t stop the run, either, having allowed a league-high 359 yards on the ground. To make matters worse for Patricia, the Pats are coming off a loss. The last 17 times that’s happened, they are 14-2-1 ATS the next week.

IF I WERE A BETTING MAN: Patriots and the over.