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October 7, 2007

Transcript: Tom Brady press conference

Hi guys, how are you doing? Small crowd.

How does it feel to be 5-0?
It’s good, it’s good. It was one of those games where we weren’t as sharp as we would have liked to have been, but this team presented some different challenges and we’re going to have to come back and learn from the mistakes and try to play better next week.

The defense helped out with turnovers and setting you guys up.
Yeah, the defense played great. Those four turnovers [were] all critical plays of the game. Offensively, we had the ball in a short field a bunch [and] couldn’t really get it in the red area like we were wanting to. We had a few three-and-outs that weren’t very good, some missed opportunities in the passing game. But I think everybody is happy we won and to be 5-0 is…you can’t be much better than that at this point in the year.

On the Donté Stallworth touchdown, what was he on your progression? Was he three, four, two? It seemed like you checked off on all of the guys, which also speaks to good coverage.
Yeah, great protection and they played – I was trying to get the ball to Randy [Moss]. They played him a little differently than we expected. It was like double-coverage on every play, pretty much. I think there weren’t a whole lot of opportunities in the passing game where he wasn’t double-covered. They left Donté one-on-one and he made a great catch on that ball, and then his run after passes is one of his strongest assets. He made a great running catch, he got a great block from Sammy [Morris]. The protection was great all day. We had no sacks and not a whole lot of pressure. It was another good performance – great performance – by the offensive line. It’s a big, physical defensive front and --

What read was he?
He was last.

Was he fourth or fifth?
Fourth. Yeah, he was fourth.

How nice is it to have Benjamin Watson as an option for you catching the ball?
Yeah, there were a couple of good plays he made there and Ben is always – The great thing about Ben, he has these games where they kind of could be break-out games and if you stop paying attention to Ben he really hurts you. I think that was the situation on both of those touchdown passes, where they’re over-playing one thing and you forget about Ben and he’s there to make the play. It’s another couple of touchdown catches for him. He’s a threat every time he’s in the red zone because he has great hands, he’s very elusive, he gets open on the linebackers. I thought he had another great day.

Did you happen to see Junior Seau’s interesting football move?
I didn’t see it. I wasn’t paying attention

What kind of luxury is it to have Watson and Stallworth being a third and fourth and fifth option when these are one and twos on other teams?
Yes, and I think both of those guys are big parts of those offense. We need to find ways to get those guys involved and for them to be playmakers in this offense, probably they can make plays, you just have to get them the football. And both of them are great when they get the ball because they’re very elusive and strong runners. And if they choose to double Randy and Wes [Welker], then those guys have to be parts of the passing game.

I saw Adalius Thomas with the t-shirt. Will Bill Belichick have trouble coming up with humble pie on Monday?
Nope, not this week. It will be easy for him to find stuff to get on us about.

You had a lot of three-and-outs, especially in the second half. Did you have trouble finding a rhythm in that second half? What was that?
I think the execution just wasn’t as good as we would have liked and we want to make it [where] we could just execute better.

You share an NFL record with Steve Young, with two touchdown passes in five games in a row. Does that mean anything to you?
I’m happy we’re 5-0, really. It’s a challenging week. You have the Monday night game, it’s a very emotional game and then you come out with a short week, get back at 6:00 in the morning, off on Tuesday and we put a lot into it this week. It was good to come home against a different type of team that probably played us a little differently than they played some other teams. It’s good to come away with a win.

What was it like seeing Willie McGinest on the other side of the ball? Did you talk at all during the game?
A little bit, a little bit. He was a great player, still is a great player, probably because he’s very disruptive, he’s very strong, he’s so aggressive in the running game. He’s a great leader for that defense, you can tell. Like I said earlier, I hate to see him in another jersey. He’s a Patriot, as far as I’m concerned. But he’s doing great.

What are your thoughts on Dallas? Will today’s performance be enough against the Cowboys?
I don’t know. I have no idea. We’ll have to wait and see.

What are your thoughts on them in general? They’re the best team in the NFC, scoring at a similar clip to you guys . . .
I don’t know anything about them. I haven’t studied them for one second. I haven’t paid attention to them. We have to have a great week of preparation to try to beat the Cowboys. They play tomorrow night against Buffalo. We’ll get on to evaluations today and try to put as much into it. I know it’s going to be a tough game.

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