Tom Brady will make his first start at home this season when the New England Patriots host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday afternoon.

The Patriots, who fell to No. 4 in last week's Power Rankings, enter the game ranked No. 2 by the power panel heading into Week 6. They also rank No. 2 in ESPN's Football Power Index, behind only the Minnesota Vikings in both rankings.

Since Brady became the Patriots' starting quarterback in Week 3 of the 2001 season, he is 97-15 at home during the regular season, the best win percentage (.866) by any starting quarterback who has made at least 50 home starts since 1960, according to Elias Sports Bureau research.

When you include the postseason, Brady is 112-18, the best record by any starting quarterback since the 1970 merger with at least 75 starts. From 2001-15, the Patriots were the only team to post a winning record at home each season.

Conference opponents don't stand a chance

Since the start of the 2007 season, Brady is 48-1 at home against AFC opponents during the regular season. Let that sink in for a moment: With Brady under center, the Patriots have won 98 percent of their in-conference regular-season home games over the past 10 seasons.

And Brady's only loss in that span was in the 2014 season finale against the Bills, when Brady played only the first half. New England had already locked up the No. 1 seed in the AFC entering that game.

The last time Brady started and played the entire game in a home loss against an AFC foe was on Nov. 12, 2006, when the Patriots lost 17-14 to the New York Jets.

When Sunday's game against the Bengals kicks off, 3,625 days will have passed since that loss to the Jets.

Sunday outlook

Despite the 2-3 start, FPI (No. 13) and ESPN's power panel (No. 8) still view the Bengals as an above-average team. However, FPI gives the Bengals just a 27 percent chance to win Sunday, by far their worst chance of winning in any remaining game.

The Bengals' offense will need tight end Tyler Eifert back Sunday if they hope to keep up with New England's high-powered offense. Andy Dalton was 10-for-11 passing to Eifert in the end zone last season. Dalton is 6-for-33 with three interceptions targeting all other receivers in the end zone since the start of last season.

Dalton is 1-for-10 passing into the end zone and the Bengals are tied for 29th in red-zone efficiency this season.