Patriots QB Tom Brady upset with officiating

FOXBOROUGH, Mass., Quarterback Tom Brady clearly was unhappy with the officiating in Sunday night's overtime loss in Denver. Brady saw key, questionable calls go against his team on both sides of the ball. He was particularly perturbed with a pair of offensive pass interference calls that went against All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski.

A few hours later, in his weekly call-in with WEEI radio in Boston, Brady was a bit more pointed in his comments regarding the officiating than might normally be expected.

"Sometimes we're getting [the calls] and sometimes we don't," Brady told WEEI. "We didn't get any last night. I don't know why or why not. You think they're looking at it, and they probably are. Sometimes officials miss it, too. I totally understand that. They're not - I don't know. I have no clue."

The second offensive pass interference call against Gronkowski, his fifth of the season, seemed to really irk the New England quarterback as it wiped out a 10-yard third-down conversion with the Patriots clinging to a 21-17 lead late in the fourth quarter trying to run out the game from deep in their own territory.

"They just feel like there's a push-off," Brady said. "It's obviously different than what I thought, because I'm looking at it, too. But they're the ones with the flags, and they blow [the whistle]. You hate to see it come down to stuff like that. But there were a lot of plays last night that just didn't necessarily end up the way that we would had hoped, and there was a lot of things we could have done better.

"I'm certainly not going to sit here and blame the officiating. Some days you get the calls, some days you don't. We're going to have to figure out what we need to do better going forward so we don't get them, and then obviously the things that we can control, which is our play and our execution, do a better job there."

--Tight end Scott Chandler continues to struggle to find a rapport working with quarterback Tom Brady. The veteran free agent addition was targeted a team-high 11 times in the loss in Denver, including a handful of deep balls down the right sideline, but hauled in just five catches for 58 yards, though that included a 9-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

Chandler has had too many drops in his first season in New England, and even though he caught a pair of passes totaling 32 yards on the injury-plagued Patriots last-minute drive to a game-tying field goal, Brady knows he's going to continue to need more production from the veteran.

"We will need to rely on him quite a bit. He is going to be a major contributor for our team," Brady said. "It was good to see him do that and we will see how it will go going forward."

Chandler is sixth on the Patriots through 11 games with 19 catches for 198 yards and three touchdowns.

--TE Rob Gronkowski went down with a right knee injury on a low hit by Denver safety Darian Stewart in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game. The tight end was carted off but a Monday MRI exam apparently revealed just a sprain and nothing more serious.

Even watching Gronkowski go down, as he did in the past when now-Broncos safety T.J. Ward hit the tight end low to cause a torn ACL and MCL in 2013 when the safety was with the Browns, those in the New England locker room did not consider Stewart's hit a dirty one.

"I don't think [Broncos S Darian Stewart] meant to do it intentionally or anything. We're just playing football," New England CB Malcolm Butler assessed.

Brady agreed with that point of view.

"I hate to see it, but it really is the only the way defenders can hit now," Brady said. "I bet if you asked the players they would really rather go high than low. I don't think it's dirty I just think that is how football is played now."

NOTES: Receiver Julian Edelman (foot) missed his second straight game following foot surgery that's expected to sideline him at least 6-to-8 weeks. ... Receiver Danny Amendola (knee) was inactive, missing his first game of the season with the injury suffered a week earlier against the Bills. Amendola was limited in practice last week and reportedly underwent a Saturday workout before the team decided he would not make the trip to Denver. ... Cornerback Justin Coleman (hand) did not practice last week and did not make the trip to Denver, missing his second straight game. ... Linebacker Jamie Collins (illness) missed his fourth straight game to the unspecified virus despite returning to the practice field on a limited basis for the first time last Friday. Collins reportedly lost significant weight and strength while fighting the illness. ... Tight end Michael Williams (knee) missed his first game of the season after being added to the injury report for the first time this week. ... Linebacker Dont'a Hightower (knee) left the first half of Sunday night's loss in Denver and did not return. He reportedly suffered a sprained MCL and his status moving forward is unknown. ... Receiver Chris Harper was released Nov. 30, one day after the practice squad call-up muffed a punt that led to a Broncos recovery and touchdown in the fourth quarter of Denver's eventual win on Sunday night.