Los Angeles: If Tom Brady does the expected and becomes the winningest quarterback in NFL history on Sunday he is going to have to do it without his all-star receiver Rob Gronkowski.

The heavily-favoured New England Patriots host the struggling Los Angeles Rams as they look to improve to 10-2 and Brady seeks to break his tie with Peyton Manning and post his 201st NFL victory, counting post-season games.

Brady is dealing with a knee injury that had him hobbling a bit in last Sunday’s 22-17 win over the New York Jets.

But his sore knee pales in comparison to Gronkowski’s back injury, which appears to have him set for surgery that could end his regular season. One report predicted he could be sidelined for eight weeks which would have Gronkowski returning the week of the Super Bowl.

The six-foot-six, 265-pound Gronkowski was hurt in a November 13 loss against Seattle when he absorbed a thunderous hit to the chest from Seahawks safely Earl Thomas.

Brady has been brilliant since returning from his four-game Deflategate suspension. He has completed 68.4 per cent of his passes, thrown for 18 touchdowns and been picked off once in seven games. Last week he became the fifth NFL quarterback to throw for 60,000 yards in his career.

Brady is 2-1 lifetime against the Rams and the odds are on the Patriots beating 4-7 Los Angeles. But if he doesn’t get the victory, then there is a good chance Rams’ rookie quarterback, Jared Goff, will get the first of his career.

Goff recently became the Rams’ starter and has thrown for 348 yards and three touchdowns in two games as a starter.

“You have a big guy, he’s a tall quarterback, he’s long,” Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia said. “He has an extremely strong arm and a very accurate arm in a lot of the different throws that they ask him to make.

“He’s a very good quarterback from the standpoint of arm strength and the ability to get the ball downfield. He has some tremendous skill players — Kenny Britt, Tavon Austin, Brian Quick.”

The Rams are reeling after dropping six of their last seven games and the schedule isn’t going to get any easier with the Patriots, Atlanta Falcons, Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals awaiting them.

Rams turmoil

Goff’s first win would take some of the heat off beleaguered head coach Jeff Fisher who was embroiled this week in a public spat with former Rams great Eric Dickerson over Dickerson’s criticism of the team.

Fisher, who is in the last year of his contract, found himself at the centre of a firestorm as earlier this week Dickerson vowed to never attend games so long as Fisher is the team’s coach.

Fisher said he’s mended fences with Dickerson and that this week’s turmoil won’t be a distraction for the players.

“They’re focused, they’re ready and they understand the challenge,” Fisher said.

And the process of getting on the right track begins on the road against the mighty Patriots.

“We’re ready,” safety T.J. McDonald said. “We were ready to go play (Monday), after how we felt on Sunday. We put it behind us, and now we’re ready to go back out there and get back to playing defence how we know how to play. We want to put it all together.”

In other games Sunday it is Chiefs at Falcons, Lions at Saints, Broncos at Jaguars, Texans at Packers, Eagles at Bengals, Dolphins at Ravens, 49ers at Bears, Bills at Raiders, Giants at Steelers, Redskins at Cardinals, Buccaneers at Chargers and Panthers at Seahawks.

The Monday night contest features the Colts against the Jets.