FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — After two weeks of outscoring the most productive offenses in the NFL, the New England Patriots extended their winning streak to seven games with impressive defense Sunday in a 34-9 taming of the Detroit Lions.

It was especially interesting coming on the heels of victories over those scoring machines known as the Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts.

Facing the No. 1 defense in the NFL, Bill Belichick’s defense gave Detroit a taste of its own medicine.

New England’s defense has been buoyed by veteran cornerbacks Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner, both added in the offseason, and Revis and Browner shut down Detroit’s receiving duo of Golden Tate and Calvin Johnson.

Revis matched up primarily with Tate, who entered with a team-high 68 catches and 950 yards, while Browner bodied up with the bigger Johnson. Though Tate had a couple of plays early, including a 24-yard screen pass and 17-yard catch-and-run on the opening drive to a field goal, New England’s pass defense got the better of the matchups for the bulk of the 60 minutes.

That keyed a defensive effort that held Matthew Stafford and the Lions to just nine points, a mere 29 percent on third downs and a 49.5 passer rating as the quarterback completed just 18 of 46 attempts.

Sure, Tom Brady and the offense put up at least 34 points for the fourth straight week and sixth time in the last seven contests. But the defensive effort — which included holding Detroit running back Joique Bell to 48 yards on 19 carries — keyed the victory.

“I thought they played competitively, I really did,” Belichick said of his secondary. “I thought Brandon had a big matchup on Johnson, Revis on Tate. Those guys really competed well. (Patrick) Chung on the tight ends, (Kyle) Arrington on both the third receivers.”

Browner played probably the best of his five games as a Patriot, seemingly rounding into form after missing the first month to an NFL suspension. The veteran, who has given the defense a boost of physicality and contagious energy, is taking his role in its success in stride.

“It’s a game plan, man. The coaches believe in us at the cornerback spot and set up the perfect matchups for us,” Browner said. “Usually, I take the big guy. … I get up for it. And you put a shutdown corner on their shiftier guy. And it seemed to work.

“We’ve got good team defense,” Browner continued. “It goes hand in hand. Put us in man-to-man and (the coaches) trust that we’ll lock up and (won’t) let them guys loose. Force quarterbacks to hold the ball a little longer with tight defense, tight coverage and — you know, more than likely — (the pass rushers) will disrupt them or get the sack.”

Browner’s partner in the back end agrees.

“I just know that we come out and we play hard. We play tough,” Revis said. “This team is dialed in very well, and we execute well. It’s panning out for us. We’re working hard, and we’re dialing on these guys real good.”

With guys such as Manning, Luck and Stafford now in the rear-view mirror, the defense will have to dial in even further heading into a big battle in Green Bay with Aaron Rodgers and the Packers (8-3) on Sunday.

It marks another chance for Revis, Browner and the new-look Patriots pass defense to prove that Brady and Rob Gronkowski aren’t the only guys who can carry the Patriots toward a potential Super Bowl run.

New England may just have a championship-caliber defense for the first time in a decade.

REPORT CARD VS. LIONS

–PASSING OFFENSE: B — Going against the No. 1 defense in the NFL, the Patriots’ aerial attack was more than good enough. Tom Brady completed 38 of 53 throws for 349 yards, with a pair of touchdowns and one interception, for a 94.0 rating. Five players caught at least five passes, led by Julian Edelman’s game-high 11 for 89 yards. Brandon LaFell had nine catches for 98 yards, and Tim Wright caught five for 26 and two scores.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: C-plus — A week after churning out a season-high 246 yards against the Colts, New England did not bash into the Lions’ No. 1 run defense. The Pats ran just six times for five yards in the first half on the way to a three-score lead. Just days after re-signing, LeGarrette Blount got things going a bit on the ground in the second half, as he broke tackles on 12 carries for 78 yards (6.5 average), with a pair of short touchdowns. New England finished with 90 yards on the ground, which was more than the 68.8-yard average yield the Lions boasted going into the game.

–PASS DEFENSE: A — The Lions’ two major targets, Golden Tate and Calvin Johnson, faced the Patriots’ two big-time corners, Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner. Though Tate had a couple big plays early on screens and pick routes, he was held in check the rest of the day by Revis while Browner was quite impressive in his battle with Johnson. That success set the tone for a Patriots pass defense that held Matthew Stafford to just 18 completions on 46 attempts.

–RUSH DEFENSE: A — The Lions weren’t a very impressive rushing team coming in — averaging just 3.2 yards a carry — and the Patriots kept it that way, holding the visitors to 91 yards on 25 attempts.

–SPECIAL TEAMS: A-minus — The kicking game rounded out a three-phase victory over the Lions. Punter Ryan Allen handled a bad snap from Danny Aiken and unleashed a 66-yard punt from his 14 that flipped field position. Danny Amendola returned a kickoff 81 yards after the Lions pulled to within 7-6. Stephen Gostkowski made both of his field goal attempts (35 and 43 yards) and notched five touchbacks on six kickoffs.

–COACHING: A — Bill Belichick and his staff have been planning for highly ranked offensive and defensive units over the last few weeks and have done so with impressive success. While the offense started slowly vs. Detroit, the tactic of spreading the league’s No. 1 defense and throwing quick passes gave the Patriots a big lead by halftime. The running game didn’t factor in much until late, when Blount got his. Defensively the Patriots matched up Revis with Tate and Browner with Johnson to impressive results. The game plans and personnel choices on both sides of the ball were dead on against Detroit. Jim Caldwell and his team looked overmatched, and the score reflected that.