FOXBORO — Rob Gronkowski was already crazy good. He was already the best tight end in the league.

But after watching him the past two weeks, with Tom Brady back throwing him the football and his hamstring injury in the rearview mirror, he’s gotten better.

The league’s most dominant player has somehow improved the level of his play, yesterday pulling in seven catches for a career-high 162 yards and a touchdown during the Patriots’ 35-17 win against the Bengals. He was even more of a force than usual, with big plays going for 32, 38 and 29 yards, and this was coming off a week where he missed Friday’s practice due to an illness.

Add in the fact his 271 receiving yards the past two games was his best ever in consecutive weeks, and he’s certainly off to a great start in the games this season where he’s done more than block.

So what’s made Super Gronk turn into a super-sized version? The simple answer is Martellus Bennett. Teams also have to pay attention to the Patriots’ other tight end, who is another force foes have to address. If they double-cover one, that leaves the other to rip them apart and vice versa. We saw how Bennett took advantage last week with three touchdown catches.

Only, there’s more to it. These guys are so competitive, but in a good way. Bennett is basically pushing Gronk to greater heights. He’s squeezing even more out of the NFL’s best tight end.

“Yeah, that’s what we try to do (bring out the best in each other). Whether it’s talking to each other, coaching each other up — ‘Hey, what did you see? What did I see?’ — pushing each other during practice, in a game. It’s a competition, but it’s a friendly competition,” said Bennett, who pitched in with five catches for 48 yards yesterday. “Like, ‘Hey, great play. Now it’s my turn. Let me see what I can do.’ So when Gronk makes a play it’s like, ‘Ah, I’ve got to make a play, too.’ So we try to keep each other on our toes and try to bring the best out in one another.”

It’s in that fun “anything you can do, I can do better” mode, and Gronk is doing his best to outdo the new guy, who’s been getting a lot of headlines and attention.

For his part, Gronkowski, while acknowledging he was finally healthy and “good to go” after his hamstring issues, admitted he has been driven by the competitive nature of all the players on offense, not just Bennett.

“We’re super competitive,” Gronkowski said following the win. “All of the players I feel that coach Bill Belichick goes and gets are like super competitive players because it brings the best out of everyone.”

Things did get a bit out of hand for the super-charged Gronk, who was penalized for taunting in the fourth quarter after knocking helmets with Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict after a 29-yard catch and also chirping at any Bengals player in his vicinity, with a lot of it directed toward Dre Kirkpatrick. Gronkowski was taken out, but — after Belichick appeared to scold him on the sideline — the tight end went back in, and kept his calm, amid attempts to goad him into another taunting penalty, which would have led to his ejection from the game.

“I’ve got to take full responsibility on that personal foul on me. I can’t be letting that happen. It’s a good thing it didn’t hurt the team in that situation,” said Gronkowski. “I mean, we got the win, but down the road, it can always hurt the team getting a personal foul.”

Bennett didn’t seem to mind Gronk having words with the chippy Bengals. A little bit earlier, Burfict took out Bennett at the knees.

“Gronk’s a tough dude. He doesn’t back down from anyone. I love playing with him,” Bennett said. “I was super excited. I was like, ‘Whatever you do, I’ve got your back.’ That’s just how we roll.”

Well, right now, the tight ends are rolling, with Gronk leading the charge. In a sense, the last two games were breakout games for him. The Bengals were helpless and powerless to stop him, particularly after the catch. Gronkowski looked great moving with and without the football all game long.

“We didn’t do a very good job covering (Gronk),” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said, perhaps in the understatement of the year.

While Bennett has certainly helped motivate him, and open up lanes during games, Gronkowski also pointed to his health as for why he’s come on strong the past two games.

“Just being able to practice and being healthy and having two wheels under me and going out there and seeing all the guys work throughout the practices when I wasn’t there,” he said. “It makes me want to get out there, it makes me want to work hard in my rehab, which I was. I was doing everything possible to get back to where I needed to get back to.”

If he stays healthy, maybe he’ll ramp it up even more and throw up some more ridiculous numbers.