Column: Highest of standards from Brady, Belichick provide fuel for Pats

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Tom Brady was right.

Asked Tuesday morning if he’s ever been on a team this loaded at this point in the season, Brady moved around the question as deftly as he avoids oncoming pass rushers.

“This team is so far from where we need to be,’’ Brady told Kirk & Callahan on WEEI. “We have so far to go. It’s really unfair to set expectations. To me and my mind, it’s really a setup, you know?

“For this team … we need to be focused on so many other things than what people may think about us or say about us.”

Brady’s comments have been misconstrued slightly. The interpretation is that Brady feels people shouldn’t put expectations on this Patriots team. That’s not what he was saying. What Brady meant was that this team shouldn’t be compared to previous teams. Each team writes its own script and should be judged off its accomplishments.

Brady’s correct. Every team and every NFL season are so unique. To compare this Patriots team to 2007, or ’04, or even ’16 isn’t fair. Those teams accomplished great things. They were world champions (well, almost 19-0 in the case of '07). This team is trying to win one game, and go from there.

Sure, there are expectations from the outside. Just about everyone believes the Patriots should win another Super Bowl, and you can see why. Add two capable running backs (Mike Gillislee and Rex Burkhead), a field-stretching receiver (Brandin Cooks) and a starting right cornerback (Stephon Gilmore) to a core that has won two of the previous three Super Bowls, and the expectation is this team should follow in their footsteps and capture a sixth Lombardi Trophy.

No one inside One Patriot Place (or The Greenbrier, for this week), cares about those expectations. That’s just part of ignoring the noise, and doing your job.

“Right now, the only expectation I have is to go out and have a good practice today,” said Bill Belichick, when asked about Brady’s comments. “I don’t think that’s unrealistic.”

The irony of the talk about expectations is that the Patriots are the Patriots because of their own expectations. Well, namely those coming from two people: Brady and Belichick.

Brady expects perfection, out of himself, his teammates and his coaches. It’s why he eats weird food, wears funny pajamas and has his body man, Alex Guerrero, with him on the road and sidelines.

It’s also why, on two separate occasions during Tuesday’s joint practice with the Texans, Brady barked at his teammates to get their butts in gear. The Patriots were sloppy on offense for much of the session. After another series filled with sacks and receivers who couldn’t get open, Brady had enough and let them have it. He expects the Patriots to be perfect, in games and practices, and they were not playing up to his expectations.

“That’s just Tom being Tom,” Julian Edelman said after practice. “When you’ve got a leader that wants to go out and practice at the ultimate, highest level, when something that you should do doesn’t go right, there’s going to be a little fire under that and that’s what you need from your leader. That’s just Tommy being Tommy.”

Belichick is the same. He expects the Patriots to win every practice rep, every series in practice. When they don’t, he holds them accountable.

“I don’t think the hotel’s going to be a very nice place to be this afternoon,” said one observer, who had viewed the practice film and knows the inner workings of the Patriots. “They may be staying in a resort, but it won’t feel like one later on.”

Brady and Belichick know what it takes to be champions. After a rough practice, the Patriots should rebound with a much better effort, and bring the wood against the Texans on Wednesday.

That’s because of the expectations Brady and Belichick set for the team and the franchise, not because of what anyone’s saying on the outside.

Outside expectations are unfair. The high standards of Brady and Belichick, however, are the fuel this dynasty has run on for 16-plus years, and it won’t be running out anytime soon.

Expect that.