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Tom Brady says Patriots trying to figure out their strengths

With only two quarterbacks ranked lower in completion percentage — and sporting the worst yards-per-pass-attempt — Tom Brady fielded plenty of questions Wednesday morning about why the Patriots offense is in such a funk.

Through two games, Brady has completed just 56.4 percent of his throws for 398 yards and two touchdowns. He is averaging 5.1 yards per attempt, slightly behind Ryan Tannehill’s 5.2. The statistics could suggest a number of things — at 37, Brady’s skill level could be slipping, or he may not have the right mix of skill players around him — but he said it simply takes time to find the right rhythm.

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“We’re still trying to figure out what we’re good at,” Brady said. “We’ve got a long way to go. Whatever we did last week, we’re trying to make improvements so that we come out the next week and play better.

“We’ll ultimately see how it plays out. It’s really early in the year, and we’ve got a lot of football left.”

The Patriots’ opponents Sunday in the home opener, the Raiders, haven’t been easy to throw against in terms of passing yardage allowed. Oakland is tied for second in the NFL, giving up just 164.5 passing yards per game. But Oakland’s two opponents (the Jets and Texans) combined for only 48 pass attempts, and completed 37 of those passes. The 77.1 completion percentage is the worst in the NFL for a defense.

Maybe that will help the Patriots’ passing game. Brady acknowledged that he needs to distribute the ball better, but said he still trusts his pass catchers and they continue to work hard in practice so that the game-day production improves.

“We’re not settling for anything less than what we think our best is,” Brady said.


Michael Whitmer can be reached at mwhitmer@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeWhitmer.

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