The New England Patriots are torn between two worlds entering their bye week. On the one hand, they need some rest after playing football for 13 straight weeks. On the other hand, they have considerable momentum on their side while in the middle of an NFL-best 10-game win streak.

Unsurprisingly, outside linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson labeled the bye week as “weird” when speaking to the media at his Gillette Stadium locker this week.

“The bye week is always kind of a bit weird,” Chaisson said. “Obviously, you want the time off to let your body rest, get your mind back right, get a chance to see the family. But you never really want to just get out of that groove, and obviously we’re in a good little groove. We’re rolling right now. So, we just have to find that balance in between. So, whenever we get back on the field and we have our matchup against Buffalo we’re back rolling.”

For the Patriots to keep rolling, their head coach has made sure to the set the proper tone ahead of the bye.

Even though his team is 11-2 and the current owners of the No. 1 playoff seed in the AFC, Mike Vrabel had a clear message for his players. The season is only just getting started.

“We’re not done. We’re not satisfied,” Vrabel said. “I think champions are never satisfied. You can appreciate where you are, but at the same time, never be satisfied or complacent. The fine line between rest and recovery, and just being sedentary. So, there’s a fine line of what we have to do to be able to come back in here, understand that just because you have a bye, that doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed some victory the next week in this league.

“Teams are 16-12 coming off a bye this year, so obviously the bye doesn’t guarantee anything other than we should get some guys back that we didn’t have [Monday night], and we’ll see where that goes throughout the week. Give them some time to reconnect with people that they care about, and then also be ready to focus on football and us finishing this thing.”

Coming out of their bye, the Patriots will be playing one of their biggest game of the last few seasons. The Buffalo Bills, who had won the AFC East each of the last five seasons, will be visiting with a potential division crown on the line: if Buffalo loses to the Cincinnati Bengals over the coming weekend, New England would be facing a “hat and t-shirt game” the following Sunday.

Any complacency leading up to that game could prove fatal, regardless of the stakes or the Bills’ record coming in. It is a message the locker room understands as well.

“You can’t not do anything football related. That’s the main thing,” said Chaisson about the bye. “You have to continuously work out, stay active to keep your joints and your body moving. Use the break obviously to prevent the contact and let your joints rest up and whatever the inflammation is in your body, to kind of move to different parts of the area. But you got to stay on some type of football, obviously, within your iPads and your film study.”