On Sunday night, Martellus Bennett played nearly every snap in the Patriots’ 23-21 victory at Arizona. Playing as the primary tight end with Rob Gronkowski out, Bennett caught just three passes but excelled in the blocking game.

“Marty certainly did an excellent job the other night, ran behind him a lot in the running game. He did a good job on the edge, we kept him in pass protection more than a handful of times and he did a nice job in terms of securing the edge of the pocket there too,’’ offensive cooridinator Josh McDaniels said.

It was a solid, workmanlike performance even though his numbers didn’t jump off the stat sheet. Bennett drew more notice for raising his fist with safety Devin McCourty after the national anthem was played.

The action was not out of character for Bennett. He is a talented football player but makes it obvious that the game is not the only thing he thinks about. In fact, it can be a challenge to get him to stick to football as a topic of conversation.

Take, for example, his impressions of the Cardinals before the game.

“Very strong, very talented,’’ Bennett said. “There’s a lot of talented players over there who can do a lot of different things and we’ve just got to be on our p’s and q’s.’’

His voice started to trickle off.

“It’s just funny, because every time I say p’s and q’s I think about the origin of it. It’s from . . . yeah, never mind, but yeah, just got to be ready to go,’’ he said, getting back on track. “Study the guys.’’

The origin of the phrase? What is it?

“P’s and q’s. So in the pubs back in the day when they used to keep your tab, the bartender used to go by pints and quarts,’’ Bennett explained, “so the bartender had to be on their p’s and q’s to know who owed them what.’’

Bennett plays a sport in which so-called off-field distractions are shunned. He plays for a team for which the idea of missing games has been likened to serving prison time. In the NFL and in Gillette Stadium, football is all-consuming.

Not so for Bennett.

Consider his take on fantasy leagues:

“Why would you want to fantasize about football?’’ he asked, when “Narnia’’ or “beautiful women’’ are options.

Bennett has always been outspoken about how his interests extend beyond the football field. In an ESPN the Magazine piece in August, he referenced finding “a balance outside of football’’ when he moved from Dallas, the team that drafted him, to New York to play for the Giants, who gave him a list of art museums in the city.

Bennett’s stop in New York only lasted a year, however, and after three more years with the Bears, he has a new city to explore in Boston. So far, he likes it.

“I’ve been fortunate to play in four great cities,’’ he said. “I’ve been in Dallas, Chicago, New York, and now Boston. It’s like, I mean, I could be in Kansas City. Dorothy didn’t even want to be there; she barely wanted to get back home, you know?’’

Athletes often opt for the privacy of the suburbs, but Bennett and his wife Siggi prefer to live in the city. They’d much rather walk — to a new restaurant, museum, or to meet friends — than drive. They stroll with their dog, a standard poodle named Wednesday, around town. (Wednesday is named after Wednesday Addams but nicknamed Wendy, after the girl from “Peter Pan.’’)

“You kind of try to go in places that fit your family’s personality,’’ said Bennett, “so we stayed in the city to live because it fits my family’s personality a bit more, to make it comfortable for them, and so they can enjoy it. My wife likes to do the city stuff all the time.’’

Bennett has a list of places he wants to visit but didn’t have time for during training camp and the preseason. Bennett, who released a children’s book earlier this summer, said the Children’s Museum is currently at the top of the list.

He likes to shop on Newbury Street, particularly at the luxury boutique Riccardi, which sells Saint Laurent jeans and T-shirts adorned with Snoop Dogg’s face or a snarling cobra for hundreds of dollars each. He recently tried Kane’s Donuts for the first time.

“Sometimes you discover stuff and you wish you didn’t discover it because you don’t want to eat it all the time,’’ Bennett said.

He has a healthy appetite, perhaps one that would be better measured in quarts than in pints, but even that, Bennett said, might not be enough.

“Me? I’m a gallon,’’ he said.

Nora Princiotti can be reached at nora.princiotti@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter at @NoraPrinciotti.