With a victory, Brady and Belichick will surpass the record number of wins for a quarterback-head coach partnership, which stands at 116 and was set by the Miami Dolphins pair of Dan Marino and Don Shula.

A recent NFL Network documentary showed the close way Brady and Belichick prepare for each game -- analyzing opponents, working out game plans -- and the quarterback believes he has benefited from the continuity of 12 seasons working together.

"It's been very important for me to never really change offenses or learn new terminology and I think we've just built on it over the years - things I learned 12 years ago when I came here," Brady said this week.

"There are certain plays in our offense that I've literally run thousands of times. You make a lot of mistakes over the course of those plays and you learn from them and hopefully you don't make them again. It's great for a quarterback to have that continuity with coaching and obviously the terminology of the plays. It's been a huge benefit."

A victory on Sunday will have to be a very hard-earned result as Pittsburgh, beaten in the Super Bowl by Green Bay last season, may have been written off in some circles but they are putting together another solid season (5-2).

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has passed for 1,937 yards and after some injury problems hampered him in the early weeks, he is starting to look like the mobile and aggressive player who is such a threat.

The Patriots (5-1) and Steelers have been two of the dominant forces in the AFC over the past decade - eight of the last 10 AFC championship games have featured one of the teams and they met each other in the 2001 and 2004 editions.

Last year's regular season meeting at Pittsburgh ended in a 39-26 win for New England with Brady throwing three touchdowns and running in another and Steelers receiver Mike Wallace expects another high-scoring encounter.

"You can't go out and score seven points and beat the Patriots," he told reporters. Denver Broncos (2-4) quarterback Tim Tebow continues to provide great material for America's multitude of sports talk radio shows as he faces the Detroit Lions (5-2) a week after rallying his team to a remarkable overtime win over Miami.

The Philadelphia Eagles (2-4) need to start winning and beating divisional rivals if they are to make anything of their highly-anticipated season and that makes their home game with NFC East rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, close to a 'must-win' for coach Andy Reid's team.

The New York Giants (4-2) can strengthen their position at the top of that division with a victory over winless Miami (0-6) while the AFC West leading San Diego Chargers (4-2) have a tricky divisional test against the Kansas City Chiefs (3-3).

The Buffalo Bills (4-2) will play host to the Washington Redskins (3-3) in Canada this weekend as part of a five-year deal the team signed in 2008 to play one home game in Toronto each year. The defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers (7-0), the league's only undefeated team, have a bye week.

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New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was too busy enjoying his bye week to sit in front of the TV and watch Tim Tebow's start on Sunday. Even if he had seen every snap, though, the 34-year-old Brady said it would be much too early to reach any definitive conclusions on where the 24-year-old Tebow's career will go.

"When you watch two or three highlights, you can't really say, 'Oh, this is the reason why' or 'He's gonna be John Elway,'" Brady said Tuesday morning on The Dennis and Callahan Show. "You can't tell after one game."Brady pointed back to his first few years as starter, saying despite the success, he was far from a finished product.

"I know myself, in my second or third year, you're a long way away from where you're going to be as a player," Brady said. "I've learned so much, and I'm still learning, and this is my 12th year. There's not a game that I play in that I don't learn something and that I don't gain valuable experience from."

While Brady didn't offer specific advice to Tebow, he did explain what was most important for a quarterback to improve. "It's a long process for a quarterback," he said. "We're all trying to get better on a weekly basis. The important part for a quarterback is not to regress."

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The super Patriot of 21st century has found the super patriot of 1776 did not ride by his fancy Beacon Street house to announce the Jets were coming. The lovely townhouse residence in the middle of historic Boston was nowhere near the route taken by Paul Revere to get out of town fast one night in 1776. Tom was also shocked to learn that Paul Revere rode north to Lexington, not south to Foxboro.

New England Patriot Tom Brady originally thought that George Washington had slept there in the spare bedroom, and the possibility made him a better Patriot. Now Brady's dream house in Brentwood is nearing completion and makes this Beantown bachelor pad look like a foreclosure on the northside of Las Vegas.

Tom Brady is trying to unload his white elephant of a mansion on Beacon Street in Boston. The property has been listed at fire sale price of $10.5 million. Something must be rotten in Boston because this is the second time the happily wedded superstars Tom and Giselle have tried to move out of this oversized crib.

The master bedroom features the usual his and her dressing rooms and a bathtub in which you may dock the Queen Mary. There are also separate vanities for those whose vanity is so strong that they need to be isolated from the other half.

The modest home is actually a greystone amid brownstones, which was the popular home living in the 19th century. Alas, the house features poor onstreet parking, and if you are not careful, some fool with run a stoplight nearby and collide into your leased gift car.

Whether noise or proximity to bars is leading to Tom's decision to take his hausfrau out the neighborhood could be related to the infestation of college students that frequent the area. Mortgage payments must be eating up Tom because he is now lowering the asking price to $10.5 million, down a half mill from a lack of interest.

No offer will be overlooked, and no word has been offered on where Tom and Gisele may open their next local digs. After Manny Ramirez left the neighborhood several years ago, the neighborhood hasn't amounted to a hill of beans in Beantown.

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Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was absent from the team's second and final practice of their bye week on Wednesday. It was the second straight missed practice for Brady.

The team does not have to release an injury report this week, so it is not clear if Brady's absence is injury-related. He was seen on the bench with a wrap on his throwing arm during Sunday's win over the Cowboys.

When asked on Wednesday about Brady's absence at Tuesday's practice, head coach Bill Belichick said "I don’t know. Was he out there yesterday? ...I didn’t take roll so I don’t know. The guys who were out there were out there. The ones that weren’t, weren’t."

Belichick later expounded, saying "Well only on the days when we have to file [the injury report], then we’ll file it appropriately. Since yesterday wasn’t one of those days, then some guys were out at the beginning, some guys went in, some guys came out later and I don’t know."

Also not present for a second straight practice on Wednesday were linebacker Dane Fletcher (thumb), offensive tackle Matt Light (undisclosed), and cornerback Ras-I Dowling (hip). Defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth (back), who was not spotted at Tuesday's practice, was back on the field for Wednesday's session, which was held in light shoulder pads and sweatpants and inside the team's fieldhouse due to rainy conditions.

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It's the great divide when it comes to debating quarterbacks. What tells more about a quarterback's excellence? Do the first 58 minutes weigh more than the final two? Would you prefer to have Brett Favre, who will put you in position to win but likely make the Forrest Gump mistake at the end? Or Ben Roethlisberger, who'll look average for much of the night before blossoming for a final drive?

That's the argument defining several quarterback debates, and it's the argument that defines how Tom Brady played Sunday evening against the Dallas Cowboys. For about 57.5 minutes, Brady's play didn't match the number on his jersey or the name on his back. He was always on the ground. He was erratic. He was skittish. He looked like a student taking a test he forgot to study for.

Then he was Tom Brady. Just in time, he was Tom Brady. We'll evaluate Mr. Brady's performance, and we'll look at more than one drive. But that drive deserves a little more attention. After all, what counts more, a pop quiz or the final exam?

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Being the first QB to win three Super Bowls before his 28th birthday, everyone knows that Tom Brady is one of the best quarterbacks in the game today. The question is: What does Brady now need to accomplish to be the greatest of all time?

On top of his Super Bowl victories, Brady owns over 25 NFL records as a QB. The most impressive of which is his record for the most touchdown passes in the regular season (with 50).

Obviously, Brady has been a part of some pretty amazing teams over the course of his career. The thing that sets him apart from other QBs in the NFL is his ability to win games even without top receiving targets around him.

Sure, Aaron Hernandez and Wes Welker are talented players, but Brady has never had the luxury of having four top wideouts like the defending Super Bowl Champion Packers have.

Despite being voted the top player in the NFL by his peers, it seems that Brady's legacy has always stood in the shadow of another QB with the fans. The Brady versus Manning debate has always stirred controversy, and Brady's current competition with Aaron Rodgers seems to sway in favor of the reigning Super Bowl MVP.

But why? Brady has won the most Super Bowls among active QBs and  has the best winning percentage of any starting quarterback of all time (115-33, .777). Why is this not enough to grant Brady the crown of the best QB of all time?

The NFL has truly evolved into a league of quarterbacks. If your team does not have a franchise play-caller, it is nothing. Brady is every bit a franchise quarterback as Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford or Matt Ryan, but his age has caused him to take a backseat to some of these younger stars. That doesn't mean, though, that he is in any way inferior to ANY of those QBs.

Though Brady could realistically earn the most wins of any QB in history, the ultimate measure of a team is whether they win the Super Bowl. Brady has won three Super Bowls as a starting quarterback, one fewer than Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw for the most all time by a starting quarterback.

That being said, it won't be Brett Favre's passing yard record or passing touchdowns record that Brady must measure his career up to. Ultimately, Brady has been able to be nearly the most victorious QB of any in NFL history. How he becomes the greatest of all time is to get rid of the "nearly."

By winning a fourth Super Bowl, Brady would cement his name with Bradshaw and Montana while tying with the two for the most among any QB in NFL history. The way Brady would be set apart from these two men is by not only being the youngest of the three, but the most efficient by losing the fewest playoff games of the group (Montana's playoff record is 16-7, Brady is 14-4 as of right now).

Obviously, if Brady was to win two more Super Bowls, he would be the greatest of all time, bar-none, but to get his name in the group with the likes of Montana and Bradshaw, he really only needs one more.

At this point in the season, Brady's passer rating is 109.5 with 1,874 passing yards and 14 touchdowns. With his New England Patriots currently owning the AFC East with a 4-1 record, Brady could be well on his way to another playoff berth and potentially another Super Bowl championship. Am I saying Brady will accomplish these tasks and become the greatest of all time? No.
 

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Tom Brady was pleased the Patriots defeated the Jets on Sunday, boosting their record to 4-1 and keeping pace with the Bills atop the AFC East. But his mood following the 30-21 victory was surprisingly chippy rather than chipper. So, what was the deal?

“I thought we were capable of playing better than we did,” Brady said yesterday during his weekly paid appearance on WEEI. “Even though we won, yeah, I feel great about that. Believe me, I know how tough it is to win and how much it sucks to lose.

“We played a good team that has been a tough opponent for us and is a tough opponent every single time we play them, but I thought that we made it a little tougher than we needed it to be.”Ever the perfectionist, Brady specifically pointed to the Patriots’ uneven performance in the red zone.

“We could have scored more in the red area,” he said. “I thought we left a lot of points out there.”Production in the red zone, third-down success rate and avoiding turnovers are at the top of every offense’s to-do list. The success, or lack thereof, contributes directly to the two most important statistics: points scored and wins.

The Patriots scored three touchdowns on six trips inside the 20-yard line against the Jets. Their other excursions ended with an interception to end the first half and field goals of 24 and 28 yards by Stephen Gostkowski in the fourth quarter.

The Patriots are ranked fifth in the league in red-zone offense, scoring TDs 65.4 percent of the time. For comparisons’ sake, they were fourth last year (62.7) when they led the league in scoring, and 13th (52.3) in 2008 when they were consistently inconsistent.

Never one to make excuses, Brady nonetheless provided one. “Some guys were not feeling (well), you know pretty under the weather and really battled through that,” he said. “Guys were definitely less than 100 percent as a lot of teams are. But I thought a lot of guys really sucked it up and made huge efforts in the game to get out there and make enough plays so we could beat those guys.

Rob Gronkowski, who didn’t participate in pregame warmups, was one of those guys, telling espnboston.com after the game he was so sick he initially thought he wouldn’t be able to play. Fellow sophomore tight end Aaron Hernandez, back after missing the last two games with a sprained MCL, wore a brace on his left knee. It’s doubtful he’s 100 percent yet.

The Patriots did make it 13 straight games with 30-plus points, leaving them one shy of tying the league record set by the St. Louis Rams in 1999-2000. They’re second in the league in scoring, averaging 33 points per game.

Twin looks: With Rex Ryan and the Jets deposed, the Patriots turn their attention to the Cowboys, who visit Gillette Stadium on Sunday. Dallas’ defensive coordinator is Rob Ryan, the long-haired twin brother of you-know-who. As one would expect, there are some similarities in the way the Ryan boys approach defense.

Both use a base 3-4 formation, lots of disguising and plenty of pre-snap looks. Multiple defensive backs, which BenJarvus Green-Ellis enjoyed feasting on Sunday, is also a staple. “There’s a lot of carryover in some of those respects,” coach Bill Belichick said. “And I’m sure they talk a lot, so I’m sure they exchange a lot of ideas and that kind of thing. So there are individually some things that are the same, but the big thing is they have different personnel. Personnel we’re not familiar with that is very good.”

The Cowboys are ranked fourth in the league in total defense (291.8 yards), but are just 23rd in the more-important scoring defense (25.2 points).

Uninspiring return: Defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth returned Sunday after missing the last two games with a bad back. He had no tackles and a quarterback hit while, according to espnboston.com, participating in 20 of the defense’s 54 snaps.

“He did some good things, did some things that could have been better,” Belichick said. “He hadn’t played in a couple of weeks, so hopefully he’ll just be able to get more time on the field and build off this week’s performance. But I think he did some things to help us.”Haynesworth suffered a leg cramp early in the fourth quarter. While the temperature was record-setting hot, it’s a pretty good sign he’s not in shape.

Anderson stays hot: Defensive end Mark Anderson had another active afternoon, notching three tackles — one for a loss — along with 1.5 sacks. He has 3.5 of the Patriots’ eight sacks.

The seventh-year pro, who was signed in early August in hopes of bolstering the pass rush, has been one of the few bright spots in that area. That could lead to seeing more of Anderson.

“Any player who plays well is going to have the opportunity to earn more playing time,” Belichick said. “That’s really what I tell the players from Day 1, from the day we bring them onto the team and at the beginning of every season. Your playing time is primarily going to be affected by your performance on the field.

“If your performance is good you’ll get more playing time. And if other players perform better than you, they’ll get more opportunities. It’s as simple as that.”Anderson had 25.5 career sacks entering this season, with 12 coming as a rookie with the Bears in 2006.

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The situation was a third-and-goal from the Jets 2. It was the third quarter, and the Patriots [team stats] were leading, 10-7.

Tom Brady approached the line. The Patriots quarterback changed the play twice, and the protection scheme once, before taking the snap, and then he calmly dropped back and delivered a touchdown pass to his third read: Deion Branch.

“Obviously, I wasn’t the first read,” Branch said with a laugh when asked about Brady finding him late. “I think Tom went through his progression. I think it was Wes (Welker), to Aaron (Hernandez), and then back to me.”Not bad for a guy who’s supposedly baffled by Rex Ryan’s defensive wizardry. Not bad for a guy who supposedly has Ryan in his head.

That was Brady’s lone touchdown pass during the Pats’ 30-21 win over the Jets yesterday, and it was a significant one to start the second half. On the day, he completed 24-of-33 passes for 321 yards. Brady did have an interception in the red zone, but it’s hard to fault him for a ball going right through Aaron Hernandez’ hands, on what would have been a sure touchdown, and into the awaiting arms of Antonio Cromartie right before the half.

During the week leading up to yesterday’s division win over their archrivals, we wrote about Brady’s difficulties in deciphering and decoding Ryan’s defense in the past. We wrote about how he went from superstar quarterback to a rather pedestrian version when pitted against Ryan.

After all, in the five previous games against the Ryan-coached Jets, Brady had gone 2-3, throwing nine touchdowns and four interceptions while being sacked 11 times. He had completed just 61 percent of his passes, with an 89.2 passer rating. In the one game Brady played against the Ravens when Ryan was the defensive coordinator in Baltimore, the statistics were even worse. Brady was 18-for-38, completing just 47.4 percent of his passes.

Those type of numbers, of course, made people start to wonder if the Jets coach might have some spell over the Patriots quarterback. Or was it merely coincidence Brady had a few bad games when Ryan was on the opposing sideline?

The way Brady maneuvered the Pats offense yesterday, the way he dictated pace using the no-huddle, suggested he wasn’t fazed very much by what Ryan’s defense was doing. It was Brady who had the Jets on their heels, not the other way around.

His ability to control the tempo kept Ryan and his defense off balance. If Ryan wanted to blitz, that was made more difficult by Brady moving at a furious pace. The Jets did sack him four times, but every time it seemed like the defense was about to gain momentum, Brady changed up the pace.

He may have been confused during January’s playoff game. He wasn’t during yesterday’s win. Naturally, having a balanced attack, with an effective running game, certainly helped. With BenJarvus Green-Ellis running for 136 yards on 27 carries, and with a balance of 33 passing plays and 35 running plays, Brady was able to keep Ryan and the Jets defense guessing most of the time.

“That was a big part of the win. We were balanced,” Brady said. “We ran the clock out at the end. I thought that was important.”

In that 28-21 January loss, it was 45 passes to 28 runs. That didn’t get the job done. But this was more like it. This was more the way they have to beat the Jets, with Brady not having to heave the ball 40-plus times. Still, the quarterback wasn’t happy.

The game was too close for comfort. He left points on the board, and that’s never a good thing when you’re a perfectionist like No. 12. “I thought we could have run it better. We could have thrown it better. We could have done a lot of things better on offense,” Brady said. “We’re going to need to.”

As for his meeting the challenge with Ryan this time, Brady didn’t seem to take any particular pleasure from it. “One week it’s him. One week it’s the Bills’ coordinator. One week it’s the Chargers,” he said. “Whoever’s on the schedule, that’s who we’re going to be ready for. I thought we did a decent job at times. But I thought we left a lot of points out there.”

At least this time, he didn’t look as lost and confused. He was in command. Now Ryan’s going to have to go back to the drawing board.

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To quote Uncle Ben in Spider-Man: "With great power comes great responsibility." In Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's case, his power comes in the form of winging touchdown passes, which is responsible for a lot of animosity from around the league, notably from players who have been victimized by skills.

Earlier in the week, Ravens defensive tackle Haloti Ngata said that he loves hitting Brady "because he always complains." Ngata's teammate, Terrell Suggs, also has a history with the Pats' golden-haired savior.

On Sunday, the Patriots host the Jets and -- you guessed it -- there are players on that defense who aren't particularly fond of Brady. The most vocal critic this week is cornerback Antonio Cromartie who, it turns out, was the most vocal critic prior to last season's matchups, too.

“I’ll never change how I feel about Tom Brady and what I said last year,” Cromartie said in the days leading up to Sunday's AFC East game. “Do I respect him? Yes. He has three football rings. But other than that, when we’re on the football field, I don’t really give a damn.”Cromartie seemed unconcerned when he was asked if he thought Brady might now go after him. "I hope I'm a target this game. I want to be a target every game.”

New England, as a whole, isn't saying jack. "You ain't going to hear nothing from us, that's for damn sure," a veteran player told the New York Post under his breath Wednesday. "Boss' orders." More from the Post:
Chad Ochocinco -- one of the most opinionated and flamboyant players in the sport -- hasn't showed his face to the media during the daily media sessions while conveniently claiming a lost bet is keeping him off Twitter for the rest of the month.

Wes Welker, so famously benched in the playoff loss for mocking Rex Ryan's alleged foot fetish, also has been a ghost to reporters this week. The same goes for fellow wide receiver Deion Branch.

But perhaps the best example of the Patriots' steely focus heading into this weekend's matchup at Gillette Stadium was normally light-hearted Tom Brady gritting his teeth through a news conference Wednesday that he stormed out of after just five minutes due to one too many questions about Antonio Cromartie.
Belichick was his usual laconic, expressionless self when asked about facing the Jets, a team that beat New England twice last season, including the playoffs. "We try to focus on what we need to do to beat the Jets," he said when asked if he had issued a gag order. "That's what we're here for. I mean, what else is there to talk about?"
 
Oh, we don't know, Brady's newly trimmed wig, perhaps? (Wait, what?) Yep, you heard us. Every other angle has been analyzed heading into this game. We might as well consider the possible ramifications of Brady's hair on the Pats' hopes and dreams in 2011. (You think we're kidding.)

Thanks to David Fung, we have graphical evidence showing the relationship between Brady's coiffure du jour and his postseason record. You're welcome.

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In his weekly interview on Boston sports radio station WEEI on Tuesday morning, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady discussed the benefits of having a balanced offense, Rob Gronkowski’s value as a run-blocker and what he’ll do if the Jets decide to blanket Wes Welker with Darrelle Revis on Sunday.

The quarterback kicked off the interview looking back at the 31-19 win over the Raiders, which was highlighted by the team’s ability to run the ball effectively. It was the first time this season that New England showed any semblance of balance on offense. The Patriots ran the ball 30 times (for a season-high 183 yards) and threw it 30 times in Oakland.

“I thought we did a great job balancing the game out, for the first time in four weeks,” Brady said. “It was a big part of what we were trying to accomplish. We were able to run the ball inside, outside. All the different backs ran it and they ran it well. That’s how you become a great offense, you keep teams off balance. You run it when you need to run it, you throw it when you need to throw it. You’re able to do enough in both areas where you have to respect it, and we did a great job of that.”

In the previous three games, the Patriots focused primarily on the pass, which resulted in Brady putting up huge numbers but at the expense of the running game. When the ground game is a factor like it was against the Raiders, Brady said, it can have a trickle-down effect on play-calling.

“What happens is you are able to use your entire playbook,” Brady explained. “If it’s just a dropback pass game, there goes a lot of the play-action pass, there goes some of your specific game-plan-type calls that maybe you really like against certain defenses, it just ends up being drop back and throw it.”

A big factor in the Patriots’ success on the ground was the contributions of tight end Rob Gronkowski, whose run blocking Brady described as “awesome”. The majority of the team’s rushing yards came on Gronk’s side.

“That’s one thing that people underestimate from him. Because he’s such a good pass receiver, he doesn’t get a lot of credit for run blocking,” Brady said. “But when you turn the tape on and at the point of attack he’s knocking guys off the ball and sometimes getting a couple of guys, that’s what tight ends are supposed to do. It’s no good just to be able to catch passes at that position, because then they just treat you like a receiver.

“But when you can run the ball behind him and he can become a real threat, you can control the tempo of the game running the ball behind him. That really helps him to set up his opportunities in the passing game.”

While Gronkowski was a big part of the ground game’s success, he wasn’t much of a factor in the passing game. He was targeted five times and had just one catch for 15 yards. In fact, the passing game was rather one-dimensional, with Wes Welker nabbing nine of Brady’s 16 completions for 158 yards and a touchdown.

What happens on Sunday if the Jets decide to focus on taking Welker away?

“I’m sure other teams are going to focus on him,” Brady said. “Teams like the Jets, really a game-plan defense, are going to have certain calls for him. And that just means other guys get opportunities. Those other guys hopefully take advantage of those.”

He continued: “(The Jets) have their style of play, what they think they need to do to stop us. We’ve had five games against them since I’ve been here with that defense in particular. Every game has a few tweaks to it. I think there are some overriding themes that you see over the course of those five games. We’ll try to figure out what they’re going to do. It’s tough because they’re a game-plan defense. Whatever they think they need to do to stop you, based on how they evaluate your offense, that’s what they’re going to try to do. They’re going to try to take away your strengths as an offense. We’ll see if they can do that.”

Since joining the Patriots in 2007, there has only been one game against the Jets in which Welker has failed to catch at least six balls. In last season’s playoff game, Welker had seven catches for 57 yards. New York’s secret weapon in the secondary, of course, is Revis, the team’s shutdown cornerback. Will the Jets try to take Welker out of the game by blanketing him with Revis?

“It really doesn’t matter, because they have to cover everybody,” said Brady, who pointed out that the Jets chose to put Revis on Deion Branch in last season’s playoff game. "If Revis is on Wes and Wes gets opportunities on routes, Wes will get the ball. We’re going to approach the game like we always do: All five guys who are eligible receivers are going to have opportunities. We’re going to try to run the ball and stay balanced.”

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