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October 10, 2007

Transcript: Tom Brady's Wednesday press conference

How much are you looking forward to this matchup of the unbeatens?
It should be a good game. We’ve been studying hard for the last few days. They present some different challenges and they’re a very talented team so we need to play our best. They’re good in all facets and anyone who watched that game [on Monday Night] knows that they’re never out of it. We’ve got our work cut out for us so it should be fun.

What kind of challenge does their defense present for you?
They’re very active. They’ve got a great front seven. They have playmakers in the secondary; I think they lead the league in turnovers. They do a lot of things really well. They strip the ball. They intercept balls. They rush the passer. They stop the run. We’re playing on the road so that’s always a factor with the crowd noise.

Is this your first time playing in Texas Stadium?
Yes.

How much better do you feel you’re playing this year?
I don’t know. I think this offense… the longer we work together, hopefully, the better we play. We’re still getting to know each other. I think there’s still a lot of room for improvement.

You’ve had four-interception games before yourself. How do you bounce back from a game like Tony Romo had on Monday? What do you have to do to put that behind yourself, quickly?
I don’t know. I don’t know. You just try to play the best you can. I think that I’ve always approached it like that. You never try to go out there and do that. You just have confidence in yourself that you’ll go out and play better.

Sunday’s game would mark your 100th career start. Is that amazing to you?
Yeah, that is. I was hoping to get 10 games, but a 100, that’s good. I didn’t know that. That’s very exciting. That doesn’t include playoff games though does it? Regular season?

Coach Belichick said that one of the most important things about you is that regardless of how you were playing, you were always trying to get better. What in particular has been a focus for you this season?
I think everyone is trying to do things better each week. You take the things that you learned from last year. I think all of us try to protect the ball, it’s something that quarterbacks can always try to do a better job of, protecting the ball in the pocket and trying to make better decisions. But I think, overall, that we hopefully can continue to run the ball like we’ve been running and cause problems for defenses in that we can run it and pass it. You don’t want to become one-dimensional. I think more so than anything what this offense has done is we’ve been a threat when we run it and we’ve been a threat when we throw it. So if they want to play heavy pass coverage, we’ll try to run the ball and that’s great for a quarterback.

How similar are these defenses? Say of the Cowboys this year and the Chargers last year when you look at them on film.
How similar are they? I think it’s a similar scheme, obviously it’s the same coach and the same coach is calling the defense, and they’re very talented players. This team has very talented linebackers, a lot like San Diego does, a big front, their three down guys are big guys. It’s a one-gap defense that penetrates the line of scrimmage and the guys in the secondary can make plays so I hope I play better than the last time I played against them out in San Diego. I’m hoping for that.

What do you take from the last time you played the Cowboys in 2003 [a 12-0 Patriots’ win?
I don’t remember that so well. That was the Tuna Bowl with [Coach Bill] Parcells. That’s all I remember.

Did that game at all spur to become better as the season went on?
Any time you score 12 points, I hope you would’ve done better. But I think we kicked a bunch of field goals that game. I’m glad our defense played really well.

With both teams being 5-0, obviously the fans are going to pay a lot of attention to two teams being 5-0. Do you get caught up in that at all?
Not really. It’s another regular season game for us and there have been a lot of big games around here. They’re a very talented team and we need to play our best game. I think that’s what it comes down to. It’s a great defense that attacks the quarterback, attacks the football and they’re very good at what they do. I don’t think we’re building this to anything more than it really is, which is another game on our schedule. It’s another game that we’re hoping to play our best and make improvements.

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