Big statistics? He'll pass

Yesterday, with a shorthanded receiving corps, Brady completed just 7 passes in 19 attempts for 76 yards, though two of those completions went for touchdowns.

So New England's record 19th straight win, including postseason, received only tepid reviews from Brady.

"It's not going to help us beat Seattle next week," said Brady, who was sporting a fat lower lip, the result of a hit the quarterback couldn't remember. "I know if we want to keep on winning we have to play better than we did today. We did not play as well as we would like. It's going to be a tough challenge from the Seahawks.

One key to the win, said Brady, was that his receivers were wide open on his two scoring strikes.

"I'm hoping they're always wide open like that," he said. "I'm always hoping I can find open guys. [Daniel] Graham continues to get open, and the [David] Givens play was a little bit of a scheme play that we thought was going to work. So they worked out just like we drew them up. It doesn't happen like that very often."

Though Miami came to Foxborough riding a four-game losing streak, Brady said no team on the Patriots' schedule can be characterized as an easy win, and he denied any suggestion that his team plays down to its competition.

"We didn't play as good as we would like today," said Brady. "We didn't play that well on offense, but we played good defense. We held them to 10 points and we put up 24."

Brady agreed with coach Bill Belichick that the receiving corps has been depleted, but didn't believe yesterday's performance had anything to do with distractions caused by all the hype surrounding the streak.

"We're proud of it," he said, "but on the other hand it's not going to help us accomplish what we have to this year. You know, we win 15 in a row last year and then begin 4-0 this year. So we're all aware of it. But you know things can change really fast. Remember two years ago we were 3-0 and then we were 3-4 after seven games."

Brady said the Dolphins defense is "excellent" and does well at giving its offense good field position.

Toward the end of the game Belichick made an unusually cheery gesture of waving to the fans and smiling through a Gatorade shower he received from some players. Brady said the team takes cues from such gestures.

"I think we respond a lot of times to the way he speaks to us . . . and you know I think we take on his personality," said Brady. "There are things that are important to him and things that aren't. And I think that he prepared us to play hard and play smart.

"So he'll come in here tomorrow and say `Congratulations on a good win, but there are things we need to do to get better.' And I think we'll take the attitude that we're not blinded by the fact that we win a game."