Quarterback Tom Brady and the Patriots have a weekend off to catch their breath from a frenzied first half of the season, but he’s hoping the team finds its best form in the second half.
“I think we’re where we really deserve to be,” Brady said Tuesday on his weekly appearance on WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan program. “I don’t think we’ve played any better than our record. We don’t deserve to be anything better than we are ... It’s not like we’ve played great football over these last eight weeks, so there’s a lot of improvements that we need to make. There’s a lot of things that we can do better. We gotta get some guys healthy, we gotta get everyone moving forward, make a big push here in the second half because this is where the best teams really start to show themselves.”
The Patriots defeated the Rams, 45-7, on Sunday in London, and enter their bye week with a 5-3 record. However, it’s not a vacation, Brady said.
“There’s not much of a break to tell you the truth,” Brady said. “It’s hard when you play quarterback to get away from it ... This is still football season, this isn’t mid-February so I’m still thinking about what we need to do better, what I need to do better, my role on the team and there's certainly things that I can improve on.”
The Patriots will be back in action against the Bills on Nov. 11 at Gillette Stadium. Brady said utilizing players like Rob Gronkowski and Wes Welker will be crucial against upcoming opponents.
“He makes so many [incredible plays],” Brady said of Gronkowski. “His ability to track the ball in the air and then to manipulate his body. He has such long arms to be able to make that type of play ... It’s incredible. That’s what he does. He‘s got so much confidence in himself. Wherever I throw it, he goes up and tries to get it and he hasn’t had much of a chance to practice this season; he’s been listed on the injured report a bunch, but he comes out and plays every single weekend and there’s nothing more you can say about one of your teammates when you’re playing at less than 100 percent and you’re giving everything you can to the team and that’s what Patriot football is all about.”
With a few days off and Halloween on Wednesday, Brady says he’s on trick-or-treating duty with his son, Benjamin.
“That’s my job,” said Brady. “There’s not much trick-or-treating that goes on in the city but I’ll have to go with some friends and it’s always a fun holiday. I always loved it as a kid. I was Joe Montana once and a ninja one year ... [Benny] has a little Batman outfit, so he loves it. Anything his older brother is, he wants to be.”