Tom Brady

Foxboro, MA

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is displaying leadership by example to his teammates, loudly criticizing himself when he overshot receivers during throwing practice.

"I think leadership is certainly by example, and you can never ask of anyone what you don't ask of yourself," Brady said. "You come out and you try to bring a good attitude and bring energy to practice every day, make good plays, be dependable and consistent."

By doing that, Brady said he is making a statement that everybody should bring their A-game, even during practice.

"That's what you ask of everybody else. It's naturally part of the quarterback position," he added.

"He's the leader," receiver Jabar Gaffney said. "We expect nothing less from him. Once he gets fired up and gets going, we all have to follow behind him."

Brady said coach Bill Belichick loves to push the team and put the players in hectic situations to determine their character in different pressure situations.

"It's an emotional game," Brady said. "You've got to bring emotion to practice, and you've got to bring emotion to games. This is not a game where you come out flat for practice. You've got to come out, work hard, try to get everything you can out of practice. Everyone seems to be doing that.

"Coach Belichick wants that level of intensity. He wants to see how mentally tough we are. The guys have to come out and show that every day," he added.

The Patriots are preparing for a preseason game against the New Orleans Saints Thursday night at Gillette Stadium and Brady wants the team to be on the same page before that.

"Guys are working hard, we're just trying to get things right. We don't have a lot of time - we have a game here in three days. We all have to be on the same page and a lot of communication and it's not always right out here, so we're trying to get it right," Brady said.

Brady admitted that he has a long way to go before meshing with the Patriots new offensive line but he is confident that he will get there before the season starts.

"We've got a long way to go. We've got a long way to go. We've got a lot of practices, a lot of meetings; we've got four preseason games. We've got a lot of work ahead of us and we're nowhere where we need to be here, but that's why we're coming out and practicing every day," he said.

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