FOXBORO – By his own count, Joey Galloway has caught passes from 24 different quarterbacks in his 14-year NFL career.

From Rick Mirer and John Friesz in his rookie season with Seattle to Jeff Garcia and Brian Griese with Tampa Bay last year, only once in his life as a professional has the receiver played an entire season with the same starting quarterback for all 16 games: In 2003 with the Cowboys, and the illustrious Quincy Carter as signal caller.

So Galloway knows, perhaps better than any wideout in recent memory, what it takes to build a rapport with the man throwing him the ball.

Just one problem: To this point, it doesn't seem like that's happening with his newest quarterback, Tom Brady.

When he signed a one-year, free-agent deal with New England in March, Galloway cited Brady's presence and the knowledge that he will be the starter with the Patriots for the foreseeable future as a big selling point. Galloway would know every day who is in charge of the offense, and not have to walk into the facility from week-to-week wondering who would get the nod for the upcoming game.

For whatever reason, however, the relationship between Brady and Galloway on-field — despite a spring and summer of passing camps, mini-camp, and training camp and two weeks of regular-season practices — remains a work in progress.

Last Sunday against the Jets, Galloway was targeted 12 times by Brady but had just 5 receptions. In the opener with Buffalo, Brady threw his way twice and Galloway did not record a catch.

While simply saying "no" when asked if he was frustrated with his own performance to this point, Galloway on Thursday spoke about developing chemistry while also defending himself a bit.

"It does take time. I don't know . . . there's not a certain amount of time that it takes, it just takes a lot of hard work and the more you play with a guy, the better you get," he said. "In this league you play against a different defense every single week and there are going to be some weeks when things look good and there are going to be some weeks when things don't look good.

"And that doesn't mean that a quarterback and a receiver are not in sync, it just means that sometimes you're going against a different look and a different scheme."

Brady, who always protects his teammates, stood up for Galloway as well this week.

"Every relationship with a receiver is different. With some people, it's very seamless; with others, you've got to put extra work in," Brady said. "Joey and I, we have a great relationship. He works extremely hard."

Brady cautioned that expectations can shade opinions; if it was expected that he and Galloway would get on the field together and appear as though they'd been playing catch for 10 years, that is unrealistic.

However, it is hard for Patriots observers not to think back to 2007, when New England added Randy Moss and Wes Welker to its receiving mix. Despite Moss missing nearly all of training camp due to a troublesome hamstring, when Game One of the regular season kicked off, he and Brady showed an instant dynamic. Moss finished the game with 9 receptions for 183 yards and a touchdown.

With New England's passing game predicated so heavily on timing, therein may lay a large part of the problem. This week, former NFL QB Trent Dilfer, now an ESPN analyst, told the Boston Globe that Galloway has never been a precise route-runner, and is not the quickest at getting out of breaks.

Galloway recognized on Thursday that Brady is special, and different than "99 percent" of the quarterbacks he has played with.

"It's been fun; it's been interesting," he said. "He is a great coach, you know, he's very decisive in what he wants and he'll explain that to you and you just have to try and get on the same page with him.

"It's his system. He operates the system; he's not just running plays, he is running the system. When you get a quarterback that can run a system, then he has the confidence to make some things happen that not everyone can do."

It makes Galloway's job easier, he said, with a quarterback who knows exactly what he's looking for, something he has rarely had with the rotating roster of quarterbacks he has played with.

There is still work to do, but with the Patriots' offense sputtering out of the gate, there's not much time to get it done.

smanza@projo.com