Shalise Manza Young and Albert Breer catch Tom Brady talking about this year's expectations and the team's status as AFC East underdogs.

"The thing is, every year is a new year for us,’’ he said. "It’s like, what happened last year, it doesn’t matter. You could come in last place — it doesn’t matter, no one cares.

"It’s just a matter of the chemistry, how everything comes together. I’m hoping this is one of the years where we really go out there . . . there’s a lot of people making noise, and I kind of like sitting back a little bit and letting other teams have the attention.’’

Albert Breer reports Veteran CB Ty Law analyzes his former team on ESPN when asked if the Patriots' window for championships has closed.

"It's closing," Law said to Trey Wingo and the gang. "It's still open, because as long as you have Tom Brady on your team, you always got a chance. But where I think the Patriots made a mistake is they let too many of core guys at one time. You gotta leave somebody there to show the young guys 'The Patriot Way' and the way that we did things. And there are too many guys that are gone, and I think they're missing a lot of leadership inside the locker room."

"I think they all understand because [Belichick is] gonna let you know that 'I'm running the show' when he walks through the door," Law continued. "Like I said, it goes back to the leadership inside the locker room. You had so many guys there, and we built that there. We played together for a long time. You've got so many young guys there right now, and you're throwing them into the mix.

"And things were done a certain way. But when you don't have Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel, Willie McGinest, Richard Seymour, and all those guys are gone, who's gonna take that young guy by the arm and say, 'This is how we do it'? ... "All the championship guys are gone. So that's why you probably find struggles right now with New England, especially on defense. You have that leadership on offense, because you have Tom Brady."

TEAM TALK

• Patriots Today - New addition Lyndsay Petruny joins Patriots Today team. (1.45 min. video)

LOCAL LINKS

• DJ Bean spoke with Tom Brady following the Best Buddies flag football game, who said he really hasn't been thinking about his contract a whole lot. "Things happen. Some are out of your control so you've just got to go with the flow."
• Tom E. Curran writes that Tom Brady 'gets' the business of the NFL, and Patriots fans should be more concerned that he has the capacity to make decisions devoid of emotion and sentimentality than anything else.
• Albert Breer posts some photos from the BestBuddies Challenge Saturday.
• Karen Guregian notes BC LB Mark Herzlich intercepted a Brady pass Saturday, the lone interception of the night.
• Karen Guregian reports on the tight friendship that formed between Alge Crumpler and Benjamin Watson during their trip to Iraq on the NFL's USO tour in 2007.
• Mike Reiss offers his quick-hit thoughts from the Patriots and around the NFL.
• Karen Guregian notes TE Alge Crumpler has been a constant in Brady's ear, trying to make sure he's getting down the plays and reads correctly and "it's going great."
• Jeff Howe reports that now he's back from his injury, speedster Brandon Tate hopes to blow the coaches away.
• Mike Reiss says the Patriots rank low in roster turnover.
• Ian Rapoport interviews the sign-holding Patriots fan from the Final Four (remember the 'Go Pats. You don't scare me Indy!' sign?) at Lucas Oil Stadium in March.
• Albert Breer assesses Welker's possible timetable to return.
• Jeff Howe notes Terrence Wheatley and Jerod Mayo are learning to erase mental errors in a "really intense mental game."
• Albert Breer says Raiders CB Nnamdi Asomugha credits Richard Seymour with helping to change the mindset in Oakland.
• Mike Reiss points out where the Pats players rank fantasy-wise.

NATIONAL NEWS

• Peter King (SI) MMQB: Teaching Tebow how to be NFL QB is family business for Broncos.
• Rick Gosselin (Dallas News) Looks at the turnover in starting lineups from 2009, listing the number of starters lost by each NFL team, their route off the roster (released, free agency, trade, retirement) and finally the key departure.
• Paul Kuharsky (ESPN) Polian cites lack of 'system' in place. Colts are no closer to re-signing Peyton Manning than the Pats are to Brady.
• John Clayton (ESPN) NFL News and Notes: Tom Brady, Mark Sanchez, Tim Tebow and some Colts' situations.  (1.48 min. video)
• Matt Bowen (Nat'l Football Post) Why T.O. continues to be a tough sell. WR talks character, but limitations in his game are the real issue.