Despite Monday's debacle in Miami, quarterback Tom Brady and his teammates are looking forward rather than backward, much as they do after every victory.

04:59 PM EST on Thursday, December 23, 2004

BY TOM E. CURRAN
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO -- Not since Drew Bledsoe and friends squashed some moshing folks at an Everclear concert has a Patriots quarterback made a decision that created such a hubbub.

Thirty-five hours after Tom Brady's ill-fated throw sent a game against the Dolphins from the frying pan into the fire, the play was still on the minds and lips of people in Foxboro yesterday

Head coach Bill Belichick, trying to prod the media gathering into "moving on" mode with his team days away from a pivotal game in New York, said this about the fallaway fling that was picked off by Brendon Ayanbadejo.

"The quarterback has got the ball in his hands more than any other player on the team," Belichick said. "He's got to make decisions with it. That's what the position is -- decision-making. That's what a quarterback does. I'm glad Tom Brady's our quarterback. Let's just leave it at that. Is every play perfect? No. But I'm glad he's our quarterback and there isn't anybody else I'd rather have."

Just before noon yesterday, Brady stepped to the podium in the Patriots media room, smiled sheepishly and flogged himself one last time.

"I think everybody realizes it was a poor decision, myself included. I think a play like that comes up and then it turns out the way it turns out and you evaluate yourself very critically and very harshly," he said. "I'm trying to train myself that, in the most critical of situations, that you try not to make as poor a decision as I made. That play in particular, that's the type of play that loses games, and that's what happened. So, hopefully if that situation comes up again, I'll take the sack. That's how you learn from it.

"I wish it didn't happen to me, but it did and we'll see if I've learned from it when it comes up again or when a situation similar to that comes up again."

The interesting aspect of Brady's gaffe is that, while it isn't likely to happen again anytime soon, it did help shine a light on some of the Patriots' late-season deficiencies. Deficiencies that may have been glossed over if Brady hadn't thrown that pass and New England had won. Deficiencies that the people in the locker room and coaches offices at Gillette Stadium have been aware of for longer than 48 hours. Deficiencies that those within the Patriots' circle of trust are coping with.

"We can't fall into the trap of trying to explain why you don't get something done, because it's giving yourself a way out," said Richard Seymour. "We have a smart, tough football team and we don't go down that way."

"We have a lot of veteran guys in this locker room," assured linebacker Mike Vrabel. "We're going to be the same guys we've been the whole year. Seymour, Willie (McGinest), Rodney (Harrison) -- they aren't going to change. The core guys on our team and in our locker room, they're not going anywhere.

"We'd like to be playing our best football down the stretch, and that's what's the most disappointing," added Vrabel. "Where do you go from here? You take a hard look at what you're doing and how you're doing it. There's a few plays in every game that if you had done something differently then things may have never gotten to where they got."

And then there are things that are beyond people's control, like a troubling porousness on pass defense.

"The situation in the secondary is what it is," said Belichick. "You know who's playing out there. All the guys that are out there are relatively inexperienced. Whoever it is, they've been out there at the most two years. We knew it last week, we know it this week and I'm sure everybody else is well aware of it."

Asked about bringing people in, Belichick shot back, "What, bring in three guys with 15 years experience? We have what we have. We've got what we got and will do the best we can with what's available."

That the Patriots are trotting out rookie Randall Gay, CFL refugee Earthwind Moreland, wide receiver Troy Brown and second-year man Asante Samuel to stop opposing receivers isn't the best-case scenario. But if any team knows about keeping a stiff upper lip it's this one that had every reason to fold like lounge chairs after an 0-2 start in 2001 and won a Super Bowl with what many people viewed as a collection of scrubs.

"When you are a professional, when you have difficult contests like this, you have to move on," said Harrison. "Just like when we won whatever amount of games and we had to put those behind us, we have to do the same thing with a loss. We can't sit back and worry about what the fans are saying or what the media is saying. They're outside the locker room. They don't put any work in with our football team. You can't worry about what they say. You just have to move on."

Meanwhile, as the Patriots moved on from Monday and their fans lingered a little, the man who caused all problems by harassing Brady into the infamous pick -- Jason Taylor -- had this to say.

"Worry (about the Patriots)? Are you kidding me?" Taylor told the Lawrence (Mass.) Eagle-Tribune. "That's a great football team. The Patriots can play. They've won two Super Bowls. They have Tommy (Brady) at quarterback. He's as good as it gets in crunch time. We just happened to win the game. That's all. They had it won and we stole it from them. We had our night and won the game. That's it. But we've played a lot of good teams and the Patriots are right at the top."