Erik Scalavino catches up with Vince Wilfork, who says he doesn't want to be a distraction to the team.

"My teammates stuck behind me 100 percent, my family, the organization," Wilfork continued, "so, I'll move forward. I'm definitely toward the Detroit Lions now. It feels good to be around a great group of guys. Feels real good."

Wilfork also acknowledged that while the defense has been playing a more aggressive style so far this preseason, holding opponents to 12 and 14 points in the first two games, New England's defense is nowhere near finished making the transition to more of a 4-3 base.

"So far, so good, but it's a learning curve. We have a bunch of young guys, there are new things that we're doing on the field. It's not just the young guys starting off their career with something new, but also guys who've been around for a long time ... there are a couple things we have to learn."

"It probably looked good, but there are some things we screwed up out there," he added. "And at times when it looked bad, it probably wasn't that bad. A few mental things we have to address, technique is always an issue at this point. Especially now, coming in this late, missing the offseason program, mini-camps, and everything. Everybody's behind the 8-ball ... Long ways to go for this team, myself included."

Tom Layman says Devin McCourty knows more is expected of him as a second year player.

"I don’t think you can come back and be the same player," McCourty said. "You either get better or you get worse. I focus to try and get better as a player."

"The biggest thing (Belichick) tries to remind you is to stay focused and not really think as a second-year player — you are already a veteran," McCourty said. "You kind of learn more that you are still a rookie and you still got a lot to learn. You continue to learn and do the things you did well last year and kind of fix the things that you didn’t do well last year."

"I think we all kind of feed off of each other," McCourty said. "Especially last year at the cornerback position, we didn’t really have any true veterans. We all kind of lean on each other at different times helping each other out with our knowledge. The biggest thing is that we rely on each other. Coaches help us, but whether it’s me asking Chung something, or Chung asking me something about what I might do on a play or how I view something maybe might be different than him. I think it all comes back to being on the same page, so we got to kind of lean on each other."

"We feel like we got more experience," he said. "But I think we still all have that little bit of edge feeling like there is a lot more for us to learn."

TEAM TALK

• Pre-season Game 3: New England Patriots vs. Detroit Lions. Broadcast info, series history, and more.
• Erik Scalavino tells us what happened at Monday's full-pads practice.
• Patriots Today - Koppen, others on WEEI. (3.35 min. video)
• Patriots Today - Dowling back in action. (1.26 min. video)
• Patriots Today - Monday news and notes. (2.37 min. video)
• Locker Room Uncut - WIlfork, McCourty and more. (3.19 min. video)
• WEEI Patriots Monday: Tom Brady (21.11 min. audio), Deion Branch (13.23 min.), Dan Koppen (8.52 min.), Bill Belichick (19.28 min.) and Vince Wilfork (12.10 min.).
• Post-practice interviews: Devin McCourty (6.20 min.), Vince Wilfork (3.33 min.), Logan Mankins (2.44 min.) and Rob Ninkovich (3.14 min.).

LOCAL LINKS

• Shalise Manza Young notes the word out of Foxboro is that the Patriots are far from a finished product - despite what your eyes are telling you after two preseason blowouts.
• Ian Rapoport tells us Vince Wilfork is loving this new attacking defense.
• Christopher Price reports the Patriots aggressive defense has made life tough for other QBs.
• Mike Petraglia notes Logan Mankins says the Patriots will be ready for Ndamukong Suh.
• Mike Reiss notes Bill Belichick explains why he'd do away with the point-after-attempt as well as his disappointment with the new kickoff rules.
• Shira Springer reports Albert Haynesworth pled no contest to a charge of misdemeanor simple assault yesterday.
• Gerry Callahan says Albert Haynesworth is just a bully with no redeeming qualities.
• Ron Borges has a terrific piece about WR Tyree Barnes chasing pirates in the Navy.
• Mike Petraglia focuses on TE Garrett Mills and where he could fit with the Patriots.
• Mark Farinella reports Stephen Gostkowski is okay with the new rule, but says not every kickoff is going to sail out of the end zone, especially later in the season.
• Christopher Price observes the Patriots are starting to shift their focus from camp to regular season.
• Greg A. Bedard shares some picked up pieces from the Patriots locker room yesterday after practice.
• Mike Reiss notes Nate Solder is making an impression on his teammates.
• Mike Rodak reports Ras-I Dowling and Taylor Price returned to practice yesterday.
• WEEI Patriots Monday highlights: Dan Koppen - Devin McCourty - Vince Wilfork - and Bill Belichick.
• Shalise Manza Young Patriots Notebook: Vince Wilfork has 'moved forward' from the Miami scandal; Tom Brady insisted he wasn't lying when he felt there are improvements to be made, and gave "decision making" as an example; Garrett Mills is happy to be in New England with a "first-class organization"; Plus a run-down of who practiced and who didn't participate yesterday at Gillette.
• Ian Rapoport Patriots Notebook: Logan Mankins sees the potential for improvement on the O-Line; the NFL is looking at the possibility of suspending Haynesworth, following his plea of no contest on a simple assault charge; Pats have brought in countless DEs this year while Eric Moore has been lined up with the first unit, trying to keep hold of his roster spot.

NATIONAL NEWS

• Michael David Smith (ProFootballTalk) Bill Belichick doesn't see the point in extra points.
• Instant Debate (NFL.com) Patriots getting impressive play from veterans, rookies alike.
• Bart Hubbuch (NY Post) Belichick denies Patriots offseason moves made to counter Jets.
• Peter Schrager (Fox Sports) AFC East preview (3.41 min. video)
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Report: No further discipline expected for Haynesworth.
• MJD (Yahoo! Sports) A new weekly show, 'NFL Turning Point' to air on Versus.
• Jonathan Comey (Cold Hard Football Facts) Over-under season totals: AFC East.
• Luis DeLoureiro (Cold Hard Football Facts) The waterboy's completely horrified predictions.