Brady not throwing in the towel

FOXBOROUGH -- There was no back-breaking interception, no ill-advised read, no Champ Bailey interception this time for Tom Brady. His demise was more subtle last night. Just another frustrating Sunday under center at the controls of the Patriots' not-ready-for-prime-time passing game.

Brady was 31 of 55 for 320 yards and a touchdown, but it wasn't enough as New England fell to Denver, 17-7, at Gillette Stadium. The loss dropped Brady to 1-5 against the Broncos, his worst record against any NFL team.

Behind Brady's easy-going smile, calm demeanor, and inflated passing stats lies a search for answers and open receivers.

The golden boy with the golden arm, who tied his career high for pass attempts last night, tried to downplay his frustration over the less-than-stellar state of the Patriots offense.

``I think we did some good things in our pass game tonight," said Brady. ``Some better things than we did the last two weeks. In that sense, I think we're making improvements. It wasn't great tonight and that's why we lost. We've just got to play better. We have a tough game next week and I'll just try to have a good week of practice and go play a good team on the road."

However, Brady's languid body language each time New England was forced to punt, which happened on seven of 12 possessions, and he thus was forced to trudge off the field, spoke volumes.

``I think Tom is a mentally strong person," said center Dan Koppen. ``He's going to lead us. That's what he does. We have all the confidence in the world in him. We just have to do more to help him."

Good help was hard to find for Brady in the first three quarters, as Denver kept New England off the scoreboard.

It wasn't until the Broncos had a commanding 17-0 lead, courtesy of Javon Walker's 83-yard TD reception in the fourth quarter, that the Broncos loosened the noose around Brady's neck. The result was a 10-play, 80-yard drive in the fourth quarter on which Brady completed 10 straight passes and may have found a Deion Branch replacement in Doug Gabriel, who capped the drive with an 8-yard touchdown reception.

``It was a good drive to go down there and score, but I'd like to do that three or four more times," said Brady.

In order to do that, New England would have had to do better than four of 16 on third down and would have had to mount some offense in the first half. The closest the Patriots came to scoring in the first 30 minutes was when they drove from their 21 to the Denver 19, only to have Stephen Gostkowski's kick blocked.

Still, Brady, forever the good soldier, said things weren't as bad as they looked.

``I don't think we did terrible in the first half," he said. ``We just didn't put together enough good plays to stay on the field. To go the length of the field you have to put together 13, 14 good plays. We just didn't stay on the field on third down. We completed some balls in the first half. We completed some balls in the second half. We just didn't do it consistently enough to stay on the field."

But to consistently complete passes and move the ball you have to be able to execute. At this point Brady, while publicly praising the work of his new receivers, might be ready to borrow the old John McKay line about execution. When McKay was coaching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers he was asked about his team's execution and he said he was in favor of it.

Gabriel, who was a non-factor in the first half, ended up leading the wide receivers with six catches for 65 yards. Tight end Ben Watson led all Patriot pass catchers with six for 66 yards.

Gabriel said the wideouts can do more to help their quarterback.

``We can do a lot more," said Gabriel, who caught four passes for 44 yards on the Patriots' fourth-quarter touchdown drive. ``We tell him what we see and he tells us what he sees. That's what it is. Tonight, we just stayed on the same page and kept it going."

But by that time, chances of a victory were going, going, gone, and Brady looked like he was ready for a Mount St. Helen's-like eruption. Given a chance to ice his sore right arm and cool down his frustration, he came out full of optimism about a passing game that sorely misses Deion Branch and David Givens.

``I'm so far past that at this point," said No. 12. ``I'm just dealing with the guys we got. I think the guys we got are playing hard and trying to do the right thing. We're all growing in this together.

``There are a lot of moving parts. We're trying to make improvements each week and I'm proud of the fight we had. We just didn't play well enough."