FOXBORO -- As the Patriots look inward during their bye week -- "Today's a day, really, to focus more on the Patriots than anything else," coach Bill Belichick said Wednesday -- it would make sense that the team's individual players do some self-examination as well.
What can they do better? How can they improve their games for the 13 regular-season games remaining on the schedule and beyond?
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is always examining his own skill set and searching for ways to make himself better than he was the day before. During his press conference this week, he was asked if there was anything in particular he looked to hone during the offseason -- something he may potentially reassess this week.
"There's a lot of things I always want to improve on," Brady said. "I watch players around the league at my position and see the things that they do really well, always trying to become a better player for our team. A lot of those things are personal and but I constantly work on my mechanics.
"Try to keep my foot-speed, not that I've ever been exceptional. But I try to get out of the way of at least one lineman per Sunday -- or defensive lineman. Just trying to make a few plays outside the pocket, which we've done a decent job of. Ultimately it comes down to throwing the football. I'm a big believer in mechanics. If you've got poor mechanics, I don't think you'll hold up to much pressure."
While Brady may not have the same level of mobility as Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers or Indy's Andrew Luck, he remains quite mobile inside the pocket. In the third quarter of Sunday's win over the Jaguars, he ducked away from pressure, extended the play, rolled to his left and found receiver Keshawn Martin for a 13-yard touchdown.