Picking on Stallworth

FOXBOROUGH -- Receiver Donte' Stallworth called himself out.

Tom Brady fired two interceptions in last night's 27-24 exhibition loss to the Titans. Both throws were intended for Stallworth, and he took the blame.

"I slipped on the first one and the second one Tom threw the ball where I was supposed to be and I wasn't exactly where I was supposed to be," Stallworth said. "There are no excuses. It's just something where I have to learn the way Tom plays and understand the way this offense is supposed to be run.

"I've been practicing for a week now. It was good to get some of the rust off, but at the same time, as the days go on you want to start making fewer and fewer mistakes. And hopefully by the time you need to get things rolling, it's rolling pretty well."

Stallworth, who opened training camp on the physically unable to perform list, missed the preseason opener in Tampa.

"It was good to get out there and get back to actual game speed," he said. "There is a big difference between practicing everything well and doing things in practice well, and getting into games and expecting to do the same thing. So it felt good out there. It's just a matter of me being in there every day, getting my timing down with Tom, and keeping it going from there.

"We have a long way to go. It's not a video game. We're human and we all have to learn each other's football mannerisms and that's what we're working on right now. That's the beauty of the preseason."

Brady went in Stallworth's direction on the team's first offensive play, hooking up on a 15-yard pass. It turned out to be Stallworth's lone catch, although that doesn't account for a second-quarter pass interference penalty he drew in the end zone, setting up the Patriots at the 1.

Yet Stallworth, who unofficially played 27 snaps, was more focused on the miscues.

On the team's fourth play, Brady was hurried by defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch and fired a throw toward Stallworth along the left sideline. But Stallworth slipped on the slick FieldTurf, allowing cornerback Cortland Finnegan to snare an easy interception that he returned 51 yards for a touchdown.

Brady again was hurried in the second quarter, this time by Antwan Odom. Perhaps forced to unload the ball a bit earlier than he wanted, Brady fired a pass toward the left sideline, where he thought Stallworth would be. Lamont Thompson came up with the interception.

"I didn't finish as well as I wanted to," Stallworth said. "I hold myself to a really high standard. It's just another step and you have to move on and learn from everything and just keep it moving and see what you have to do to continue to get better. There was a lot of stuff out there that I can correct."

Stallworth said a big part of the corrections come down to communication. That was evident on the sideline, where Brady spent time talking to Stallworth.

"It was just good to get out there once and now it's just seeing how the offense will be run," Stallworth said. "We have to put it behind us, learn from it, watch the film, and move on from there."

Mike Reiss can be reached at mreiss@globe.com.