Tom Brady: 'I think our best football is ahead of us'

Tom Brady talked to Jim Gray of Westwood One Monday night about the loss to the Titans, the bye week, whether or not he’s seen some slippage in his game, as well as the postgame comments from Dion Lewis. Here’s are some of the highlights from the Q&A:


What happened on Sunday?

“It was a tough loss for our team. I think we got off to a slow start in the first quarter. And we were playing behind the entire game. The Titans, I give them a lot of credit. They played a great game offensively. They controlled the ball defensively. They played as well as they’ve played all year. So, when you go on the road in the NFL and you don’t play good, these are the types of things that happen. It’s not like you just … when the Patriots show up, magic happens and we win. There’s a lot of things that go into it. We have to earn it. We didn’t do a very good job of that (Sunday). That’s just what happens.

“Those are the emotions of a football season. That’s what you have to battle, in a way. It’s very much a roller coaster. Part of it is not believing the hype when everyone says, ‘You guys are going to the Super Bowl. They might as well give you the trophy.’ You can’t believe it when they say you’re the worst team in the league also. You’ve got to just believe in what you’re doing. Our good friend Steadman just says you keep going, and I think he’s right. You keep going. You wake up the next day and you get back to the process of what got you there in the first place and you try and improve those things that (have to get) worked out. We’re in an important part of our season, going into our bye week. We have 10 weeks to look at. Ten weeks of film to study and look at and see what we need to do better in. Really self-scout and analyze the first 10 games of our season. Hopefully, we can learn from these games. I know we learn from (Sunday’s) because we didn’t do anything in a winning way that we need to. I think we’re all looking forward to this week and studying ourselves and seeing things we can do better that are really going to help us going forward and lead us into the most important time of year — the games ahead of us.”

Losing on the road — you’d be on the road now if the playoffs start today. What is behind the difficulty on the road? And those three losses are against some bad teams:

“They play better on the nights that we play them. I thought Tennessee played pretty well (Sunday). I think if they play like that all year, I think a lot of teams will have a hard time beating them. Just like we did. And if we play well like in the same they played well, teams will have a hard time beating us. We just have to figure out how to play well on the road. And that’s a lot of mental toughness and really a lot of great execution early in the game. We’re still trying to figure out in ways what our identity is. I know we’ll be searching for that as long as the season goes. That’s part of the football season. But we really have to work hard this week to figure out the things we need to do that are going to help us the most going forward. No one really has any margin (for) error this time of year. We’re all just at where we’re at. Teams are built. We’ve shown what we can do well. Our identity is there to a degree. We need to shape it in a way that allows us more opportunities to win. From a players’ standpoint, it’s all about us executing, bringing a great attitude to practice, practicing hard and preparing. That’s the best way to gain confidence going into the game. The ball gets kicked off, and that’s what athletes do. Our job is to perform at a high level. When you perform the way we did (Sunday), nobody feels good about it. You don’t sleep. You think about it all day. It bothers you. But at the same time, you have resolve. You say, ‘Look, this is what happened. We take ownership of it. And we have to make sure as we move forward, we learn from these mistakes.’ And that doesn’t mean we’re guaranteed victory just moving forward. It just means you have to put the words into action. And that’s what we’re going to try and do.”

People will see Sunday’s game and wonder if you are slipping. Do those thoughts run through your brain?

“Everything is different from one year to the next. I think you keep working at it the same way. Those things haven’t changed for me. I’m ... some of my statistics have changed. But I think you have to look at … I feel good out there. Do I want to play better? I absolutely want to play better. I want to play as best as I possibly can for our team, and that’s what my job is. And certainly (Sunday) was not a great performance. I have to go out there and play my best these next six weeks to give our team the best chance. That’s what I want to do. That’s what I’m going to focus on the next two weeks. We have another road test. Another opportunity to go against the Jets — a division rival in two weeks. And we have to have our best road game of the year. That’s what I’m expecting from us.”

On Gronk and his struggles. Is he the same player he was?

“First of all, Gronk is a great player. And Gronk is extremely tough and hard working. I know he’s working hard at his rehabilitation. We’re all hoping that when he comes back, he’s the same player he always is. When he comes back, that’s really up to the trainers to decide. In the meantime, what we can do for the players out on the field who are trying to play better and earn these victories is do a better job in our areas and focus on what we need to. When I think about myself, I think about how I need to play and what things I need to improve to give our team a better chance to win. And as we get guys healthy here over the next six weeks up until the end of the season … obviously, having good players out there helps a team. The better players you have, the better the team is going to be. We love having Gronk out there. We love having everyone healthy. I know different guys are battling through some things this time of year. It’s a very physical sport. But we’ll see how it all plays out over the next six weeks. But I think all of our best football is ahead of us.”

On comments from Dion Lewis after the game — he was one of several guys who left in free agency this offseason:

“I know we talked about this early in the season — every team changes. You have different players every season. Teams … players switch teams. That’s not a newsflash in the NFL. We are who we are — we’re 7-3 in the AFC East. We have six games to go. We’re not 1-8. We’re not 1-9. We have a great opportunity ahead of us. I respect all the guys I’ve played with, Dion being one of them. I know when guys leave they have feelings and emotions they want to express. When you win, you can probably say whatever you want. When you lose, you don’t get to say much. I think that’s just part of the emotional nature of the game.”