PITTSBURGH -- Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:

1. One of the questions when the Patriots lost receiver Julian Edelman to a torn ACL in the preseason was how much they could realistically rely on 32-year-old Danny Amendola to help fill his void. The concern was that with more snaps came a higher injury risk to a player who has been vulnerable in that area in the past.

But with three games remaining in the regular season, Amendola has shown he still can handle a sizable workload and produce, which might have him thinking about extending his career into 2018 and perhaps beyond.

"I feel really good. I'm really excited about how I feel -- mentally, physically -- and I'm excited about the future," Amendola said with a smile.

Amendola stopped short when asked what that future might include (he's in the last year of his contract), electing to take a short-term mindset by saying his sole focus is on Sunday's game against the Steelers. But he did acknowledge that at this stage of his career, in his ninth season, there are obviously some thoughts about how much longer he would play.

"It's been in the back of my mind, but really just solely trying to be focused on the task at hand, and like I said at the beginning of the season, of really having fun and embracing the guys in the locker room, my friends, and playing good football," he said.

Amendola, who has played 47.2 percent of the snaps this season after playing 23.8 percent in 2016, said the approach has served him well. Of his increased playing time this season, he said, "I'm not really counting the plays; it's about making them count."

He also said players have learned a lot about each other this season, before adding, "I'm excited where we're at, and where we're going."

As an indication of how Amendola has got things going with his play, he could break his Patriots highs in receptions and yardage depending on how things unfold over the final three games. He enters Sunday's game with 52 receptions for 565 yards and two touchdowns.

His most productive season in New England was 2015, when he had 65 catches for 648 yards.

When Amendola accepted a significant pay cut each of the past three offseasons to return to the Patriots, one of the things he said was that he wanted the chance to keep playing in meaningful games. Sunday's road game against the Steelers is another example of why he is happy he took that approach.

"No question, I love the path I've taken," he said. "It is a business, and at the end of the day, I'm very lucky and very thankful and blessed to have the ability to play this game and be compensated as much as I do anyway. I'm really happy that I'm here."

2. Good health was a significant boost for the Patriots in their 2016 Super Bowl championship season, but they haven't been as fortunate in that area this season. When starting right tackle Marcus Cannon was placed on injured reserve Thursday, he became the 10th player this season to land on IR (a group led by Edelman and Dont'a Hightower). The team had just four players on IR last year.

3a. "Terrible towels" probably won't be the only flashes of yellow seen at Heinz Field today, as referee Tony Corrente's crew has called an average of 18.5 penalties per game this season, which is the most of any crew. For context, Bill Vinovich's crew has called the fewest (11.5).

Specifically, Corrente's crew has called defensive pass interference, illegal contact and defensive holding a league-high 46 times (the crew average is 31.5), according to ESPN Stats & Information.

When I brought those numbers to some of the Patriots' defensive backs Friday, they said it wasn't something they had focused on at that point of the week. But players are usually briefed on the tendencies of specific officiating crews at some point before kickoff.

"Any insights you can get into how you think the game will go, or how they've been calling it, it helps," second-year cornerback Jonathan Jones said. "You have to do business the way business is being done. If they're calling something tight, you have to be cognizant of it. You have to play within the rules, play within the game without trying to get those penalties."

3b. One leftover from the referee's file: With Craig Wrolstad scheduled to be the referee for next Sunday's Patriots-Bills game, and Brad Allen set to be the referee for the Patriots-Jets season finale, New England will have missed five referees this regular season: Walt Anderson (preseason), Clete Blakeman, Ed Hochuli, Terry McAulay (preseason) and Jeff Triplette. Perhaps they catch up in the playoffs.

4. The respect that Tom Brady has shown to some all-time great quarterbacks of past eras shows up at various times, with one of the most recent this past Monday night in Miami when Patriots All-Access cameras captured his embrace with Dan Marino on the field before the game, with Brady saying to Marino, "Love ya."

5. Two playing-time notes that have a tie-in to incentives and draft-pick compensation:

• After serving a one-week NFL suspension in Week 14, Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski has now played 77.9 percent of the offensive snaps this season. One way for him to cash in on tier 2 of his incentives ($8.75 million) is by playing 80 percent of the snaps.

• With Patriots cornerback Eric Rowe having missed a stretch of seven straight games with a groin injury, he has played just 13.6 percent of the defensive snaps. Had he played more than 50 percent, the Patriots would have shipped a 2018 third-round pick to the Eagles to consummate last year's trade between the teams. Instead, they'll send a fourth-round pick.

6. When wide receiver Kenny Britt was waived by the Browns, and then went unclaimed Monday, he declined other potential opportunities to sign with the Patriots because he wanted to join a winning team and play with Brady. But since the Patriots were playing Monday night, and a deal/visit couldn't be put together until after the game per NFL rules, the sides couldn't do anything until early Tuesday morning. Everything happened quickly at that point. Of course, none of it likely would have happened if Britt had signed with Philadelphia instead of Cleveland in the offseason, which was something he had been considering at the time.

7a. Did You Know, Part I: Brady hasn't thrown an interception against the Steelers since 2005, a streak of 278 straight attempts (including playoffs).

7b. Did You Know, Part II: The Patriots have lost back-to-back games with Brady as quarterback only five times in the last 10 seasons. Since 2008, Brady has a 26-5 record after a loss.

7c. Did You Know, Part III: The Steelers and Patriots are the only franchises in the last 20 years to have made just one coaching change.

8. Steelers receiver Antonio Brown is on the verge of joining elite company in Sunday's game against the Patriots. He enters with 9,886 receiving yards in his eight-year career, and in his 115th career game he can tie Calvin Johnson for the fewest games to reach 10,000 receiving yards in NFL history. How, again, did he slip to the sixth round of the 2010 draft?

9. The Steelers (11-2), Patriots (10-3) and Jaguars (9-4) are vying for the top two seeds in the AFC playoffs, which would earn them a first-round playoff bye. Let's break down each team's remaining schedule:

• Steelers: vs. Patriots; at Texans; vs. Browns

• Patriots: at Steelers; vs. Bills; vs. Jets

• Jaguars: vs. Texans; at 49ers; at Titans

Lots of scenarios are in play, but one that stood out to me: Maybe Jimmy Garoppolo helps out the Patriots in Week 16 by handing the Jaguars a loss.

10. Garoppolo and the 49ers host the Titans on Sunday, and with a San Francisco win, Garoppolo would be just the fifth quarterback in the past 20 seasons to win each of his first five career starts, joining Kurt Warner (6, 1999), Marc Bulger (6, 2002), Daunte Culpepper (7, 2000), and Ben Roethlisberger (15, 2004-2005).