New England Patriots

Mark Wahlberg just put the ENTIRE NFL on notice ... the Patriots are SO GOOD, they'll whoop your team's ass ... with or without Tom Brady.

Adriana Lima's still going strong with New England Patriots star Julian Edelman ... who doesn't seem the least bit phased by her "date" with Ryan Seacrest.

Sources close to the Pat and the supermodel tell us EdeLima is still very much a thing. In fact ... the Victoria's Secret Angel was in Boston visiting the NFL star just a couple weeks ago. We're told she hung out with him and his friends, which is always a big deal.

We're told the visit was one week before Adriana was seen at an NYC restaurant with Seacrest, but Julian's not the jealous type ... and he believes she's just friends with the host.

Julian's focused on a different kinda victory right now -- he's busy prepping to be the backup QB for Thursday's game against the Texans.

No Brady or Garoppolo? No problem ... 'cause backup Patriots QB Jacoby Brissett's no stranger to filling in on short notice.

With Tom Brady (suspended) and Jimmy Garoppolo (injured) sidelined, 23-year-old Brissett will take over under center against the Texans this Thursday.

TMZ Sports spoke with Jack Daniels -- Brissett's football coach at Dwyer High School in Florida -- who tells us the rookie signal caller started showing his insane game preparation when he was a freshman.

"He's been through this before," Daniels says. "We were facing one of the best teams in the country and our starter went down. Jacoby came in as a 15-year-old and went 12 for 12."

“I talked to him after the game. He’s excited for the opportunity to play. He’s going to do whatever he can to help this team win. I think he’s going to be a little nervous.”

New England Pats owner Bob Kraft came face-to-face with one of his most famous ex-WRs this weekend, Wes Welker ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Turns out, the two both happened to be dining at Capo Restaurant in Boston (a pro athlete hot spot) on Saturday night -- before the Patriots took on the Dolphins at Gillette Stadium.

We're told the owner of the place told Wes that Bob was dining in another section of the restaurant -- and Wes decided to go pay his old boss a visit.

A restaurant spokesperson tells us both Wes and Kraft left their parties and sat down at their own table -- where they talked by themselves for roughly 30 minutes and drank martinis.

Unclear what they talked about -- but Welker was telling staffers that he was in town to throw with Tom Brady ... which he did.

The next day, Welker went to the game ... dressed in a Tom Brady mask ... and the fans LOVED it.

No Brady? No Problem.

At least, Patriots superfan John Krasinski doesn't seem worried ... telling TMZ Sports his team will go 4-0 with Jimmy Garoppolo at the helm.

Jimmy had a pretty decent showing in the 1st pre-season game last weekend -- going 11-18 for 168 yards against the Saints.

Can he keep it up against the Cardinals, Dolphins, Texans and Bills??

Convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez is expected to appear in court Tuesday -- where a judge is hoping to set a trial date for the double murder the ex-NFL star is accused of carrying out in 2012.

Hernandez is currently serving a life sentence for the 2013 slaying of Odin Lloyd -- but he's also accused of gunning down 2 men in a drive-by shooting after leaving a nightclub in Boston.

Prosecutors say Hernandez killed the men because one of them spilled a drink on him inside the club.

The 26-year-old ex-New England Patriots star is scheduled to appear in Suffolk Superior Court for a status hearing and the judge has said he hopes to set a start date for the trial.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was in NYC Tuesday night -- so, we had to ask the question everyone wants to know ... "How's Jimmy Garoppolo doing?"

Kraft answered the question positively -- but when we asked if Tom Brady was mentoring his backup QB, Bob just smiled.

Jimmy is all set to start the first 4 games of the season while Tom serves his suspension -- and while Kraft wasn't exactly Mr. Chatty ... Rob Gronkowski recently praised the kid.

"He’s taken a big step over the past two years," Gronk told SiriusXM's "Movin' the Chains."

File Under: EXTREME MEAT SWEATS!!

Here's New England Patriots defensive end Jabaal Sheard lining up in front of a 2 POUND monster steak Tuesday -- in what may have been the most delicious charity challenge of his career.

Sheard hit up Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts (about an hour from Gillette Stadium) -- where owners offered to give $4,000 to charity if he could finish the whole thing!

We're told people in the restaurant were so pumped -- several customers added to the pot ... which totaled $5,200!

The good news? SHEARD CRUSHED IT ... devouring the entire Flintston chop in 50 minutes!

New England Patriots star Julian Edelman may have pulled a Tom Brady ... allegedly knocking up a smokin' hot lady ... and then moving on to date a world-famous supermodel.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft just unloaded on the NFL -- claiming its treatment of Tom Brady has been horrible, unjust and unfair.

Kraft just issued a statement blasting Tom's upcoming 4-game suspension for his role in Deflategate.

"The penalty imposed by the NFL was unprecedented, unjust and unreasonable, especially given that no empirical or direct evidence of any kind showed Tom did anything to violate League rules prior to, during or after the 2015 AFC Championship Game."

He added, "I am most frustrated that Tom was denied his right to a fair and impartial process."

Kraft also took another shot at the investigation -- calling it "flawed and biased from the start" and noting it "has been discredited nearly unanimously by accredited academics and scientists. "

"What Tom has had to endure throughout this 18-month ordeal has been, in my opinion, as far removed from due process as you could ever expect in this country."

"From day one, I have believed in Tom and given him my unwavering support in his pursuit to rightfully clear his name of any wrongdoing. That support extends throughout our organization and has only grown more steadfast as the preponderance of scientific evidence has exonerated Tom. Unfortunately, this stopped being about air pressure a long time ago."

"This entire process has indelibly taken a toll on our organization, our fans and most importantly, Tom Brady."

"His reluctant decision to stop pursuing further action and to put this situation behind him is what he feels is best for the team in preparation for this season and is fully supported by me and our entire organization."

It's over. Finally.

Tom Brady has announced he's ending his Deflategate fight ... saying, "I have made the difficult decision to no longer proceed with the legal process."

New England Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler says he ain't sweatin' Tom Brady's 4 game suspension -- telling TMZ Sports he's got other stuff to worry about instead.

We shot Butler out Tuesday -- before an appeals court rejected Tom's request for a rehearing in the Deflategate case -- and asked how the team felt about Jimmy Garoppolo possibly filling in for TB12.

Rob Gronkowski went on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Thursday night and said he was NOT fully naked during the GQ photo shoot ... despite what TMZ Sports reported -- but it's a curious situation.

We reported earlier in the day that RG was in his birthday suit during the racy boat photo with supermodel Hailey Clauson -- but only after a GQ publicist squarely told us in an email, "Yes, he was naked."

Hours later, Gronkowski refuted the claim on 'Kimmel' -- saying he was wearing a tiny Speedo that covered his junk.

We called the GQ rep back -- and spoke with her boss (the communications director for GQ) who gave us 3 different and intriguing explanations.

First, she said Gronk was "definitely naked on some parts of the shoot."

Then she said, "The info I got is what I gave you" ... suggesting there may have been a cover up over not covering up.

Finally, the plot totally thickened with her 3rd point -- "Maybe he didn't want to talk about being naked on Kimmel."

9:23 AM PT -- We asked GQ if Gronk was really fully naked for the shoot.

The answer -- "Yes, he was naked."

Boom.

So, here's a pic from Gronk's highly anticipated GQ article ... in which the photo shoot motivation was apparently, "Surprise! Here's my dong!"

The flashee in the shot is supermodel Hailey Clauson -- who teamed up with the Pats tight end for the cover of the upcoming June issue of the magazine.

The guy who wrote the article about Gronk spent some time embedded with the NFL star and described his life the following way:

"Gronkowski seems to exist in a permanent shower of champagne spray and nightclub-foam-party foam ... all without ever seeming like a creepy douchebag.”

#GronkJustBeingGronk

It was cooking session meets gym session for Patriots safety Patrick Chung this week -- when he stopped a culinary exhibition to do some deep squats ... with a famous chef on his back!

Chung teamed up with celebrity super chef Ming Tsai (you know him from "Top Chef," 'Iron Chef,' etc.) for a fundraiser for Family Reach foundation ... which provides financial aid to families of cancer patients.

But while Chung was prepping his famous jerk chicken dish -- Tsai challenged him to do some squats while carrying him on his back!

Chung accepted ... and beasted out in front of the crowd -- and they loved it!!

They also loved the food -- we're told Chung's got real skills in the kitchen.

Nice work, dude.

Stephen Hawking -- the most wicked smaht guy on the planet -- is now an official fan of the New England Patriots ... and he's got the custom jersey to prove it.