NFL.com – Following consecutive losses for the first time since midway through the 2006 season, Patriots QB Tom Brady has come as close as he ever has to calling out his teammates… saying “at times I don’t think we fight very hard.” Brady had an opportunity to back off that comment Monday. He didn’t. During his weekly appearance on WEEI, Brady said the Patriots need more commitment in their preparation. “I’ve been here 10 years, and I’ve seen a lot of players and teams,” Brady said on The Dennis and Callahan Show. “It starts on Monday in our preparation. It starts on Wednesday through five hours of meetings and walk-thrus that we do, and practice [and] film study. I think when it gets hard, that’s when you have to dig deep. At times, we do that. And other times, it doesn’t show up. We’ve all got to do a better job of that. We’ve all got to put more work in and put more time in and put more commitment into each other. It’s a different team. We have a lot of new players. We’re trying, over the course of the season, learn each other and learn things we do well and things we don’t do so well. And that takes a lot of commitment. I have a lot of confidence in our team, and I have a lot of confidence that we do play tough, and we do play physical, and we do play smart … I just don’t think — as coach would say, and he says this to us all the time — we don’t do it on a consistent basis.”

For starters, I applaud Brady for saying what we’re all thinking.  There’s losing games, and then there’s losing games like the one they coughed up on Sunday, which is unacceptable.  And I appreciate the timing; he didn’t wait until after he had a great game and the rest of team blew it.  He said it after a game in which he could’ve sealed the win but threw a bad pick in the endzone, which ironically gives his words more credibility in my mind.  And while Brady is an unfailingly good teammate, who could just sit there, draw his paycheck, watch Gisele’s breasts engorge and protect his Mr. Nice Guy image by keeping his mouth shut, he knows that being a quarterback ipso facto means being a leader.  It means speaking up.  It’s unavoidable, no matter how uncomfortable, say, Drew Bledsoe was in the role.  Some have greatness thrust upon them, and Brady knows he is such a guy.  And as analyzed as Brady is, one thing that doesn’t get enough attention is how careful and calculating he is.  This isn’t a frustrated Peyton Manning pointing fingers with “I’m trying to be a good teammate here, but there were some problems with the protection…”  Brady chose these words like he always does: with the utmost care.  I have to believe he’s delivered this same message behind closed doors in the practice bubble, the locker room and the film room, and it just got to the point he had to say it to the world so it would be broadcast loud enough to be heard by whomever isn’t listening.

Which begs the question: Who is he talking about?  Who on the team is not putting in the 5 hours on Wednesday?  Who’s not putting the work in and the time in and the commitment into each other?  I mean, he implies he’s talking about all 53 guys, but should we take it to mean he’s talking about someone in particular?  I almost wish he’d given us some hint like in one of those Inside Track blind items I can never figure out.  Which of us isn’t working hard enough?  Well a rolling stone gathers no moss… or something.  Which is the problem any time you call out your teammates.  Once you start suggesting some of you aren’t doing the right things, it leaves everyone open to speculation.  But after losing 3 of your last 4 and going 0-for-5 in opponent’s stadiums this year, there’s no sense in trying to spare anyone’s feelings.  Some guys will respond positively, some perhaps won’t.  But the time to find out who those guys are is right now before the whole season slips away.  And that’s what being a leader is.  Of course, not throwing that interception in the endzone would’ve worked too.