Tom Brady focused more on Patriots' miscues rather than referees

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New England Patriots had one touchdown taken away from them in Sunday's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs when officials incorrectly ruled receiver N'Keal Harry was out of bounds. They also potentially could have had another touchdown on a fumble recovery had the play not been ruled dead, but quarterback Tom Brady wasn't focused on those miscues as much as on his team's own.

"I don't ever make any excuses, and I certainly never blame the referees," Brady said Monday morning in his weekly interview on sports radio WEEI's "The Greg Hill Show."

Brady, 42, added that he didn't sleep much Sunday night because he was thinking about what the offense could have done differently to score a tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter but said he was anxious to get back to work.

"When you play sports long enough, I think sometimes you're the recipient of things that go your way. And you're on the other side of it, too. For me, I don't think too much about it," he said of the officiating calls.

"I wish it would go our way. Unfortunately they didn't. It doesn't take away from, when you watch the game, all the different things we had in our control that I wish we could have done a little bit better. We were just trying to keep grinding them out, and just put ourselves in a position there at the end with four plays in the red area, and just didn't produce well enough to get the job done."

Brady had his right (throwing) elbow wrapped after Sunday's game, but he said he will be on the field next Sunday when the Patriots visit the Cincinnati Bengals.

"It's all right. I just took a helmet on the inside of it. Just a typical football game. Nothing I haven't dealt with before," Brady said in the radio interview. "I'm just going to try to get some extra treatment and hopefully be 100 percent for next week."

The Brady-led Patriots offense has struggled for extended stretches of the 2019 season, sparking questions as to whether there is enough talent around Brady.

The Patriots were 2-of-12 on third down against the Chiefs, and their season-long struggle in the red zone continued with just one touchdown in three trips inside the 20.

"[The defense] has been playing great all season. and they gave us every chance yesterday. We just have to keep fighting and keep battling. It hasn't been an easy season," Brady said.

"That's like every other year. Every season has its own unique challenges, and we've faced them. We have to learn from them. And our whole season is ahead of us. We have to rally together and trust in each other and go lay it on the line like we've been doing every week. This is about a one-week season for us and trying to go out and go to Cincinnati and win on the road."