---

Tom Brady was asked after Sunday's game if, after having thrown five touchdown passes in the Patriots' 48-27 victory over the previously undefeated Dallas Cowboys, he was considering his chances to break Peyton Manning's record for TD passes in a single season.

"I haven't thought about it at all, really," the veteran quarterback said after the win at Texas Stadium that improved the Patriots' record to 6-0. "I don't set my goals like that. That's not what I do or what it's all about. There are plenty of team records, and those individual records? They're based on the opportunities you get."

Opportunity has certainly been knocking for Brady, who now has 21 touchdown passes and is almost halfway to Manning's NFL mark of 49 in a season after just a little more than one-third of the year.

But the way Brady sees it, each touchdown he produces - whether as a pass to the likes of Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Donté Stallworth or Benjamin Watson, or as a handoff to any of his running backs - is a piece of the puzzle that gets assembled in the course of a game.

Put enough of those smaller pieces together, and it's a win. Put 16 of those larger pieces together, and it's a history-making season. But that's getting ahead of one's self, Brady would say.

Even though Sunday's game was by far the most hyped game of the season - at least until the Patriots play in Indianapolis on Nov. 4 - Brady refuses to look at this victory or speak publicly of it as a "statement" of any sort.

"It's really early," he said. "The reality is that it's a win on the road, we're 6-0 hey, I'm just happy as hell about that. Any time we're winning, I'm feeling good about it.

"The season doesn't really start until after Thanksgiving, anyway," he added. "We have to win as many of these games as we can, and see if we can get better each week."

There was no doubting how good Brady was Sunday - 31 completions in 46 attempts, 388 yards (a season best and the second-best total of his career), the five TD passes that tied a team record achieved before by Steve Grogan and Babe Parilli (twice) and no interceptions.

But it was also clear that those were numbers Brady might not be able to put on the board if not for the presence of the new receivers Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli got for him in the offseason.

Welker, late of the Miami Dolphins, had 11 catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns. Stallworth, the former Philadelphia Eagle, pulled in seven catches for 136 yards and one score. And Moss, while not lighting the stat sheets on fire with his six catches for 59 yards and one TD, carries with him a presence that makes an opposing team alter its defensive game-planning out of fear and respect.

Even Brady's misses were beautiful - such as a faked reverse on the first play of the game that resulted in an overthrown ball to the end zone, just a little too far for the magical Moss to reach.

"We put a few things like that in the game plan every week," Brady said. "I wish I had hit a few of them that fake reverse on the first play would have been a nice way to start the game.

"But we really made the plays when we needed to," he said. "We were down four (points) in the first quarter and responded and made some great plays offensively, and the defense today really stepped up. It was a great team win." Reporters at the post-game press conference continued to try to make Brady accept his greatness, but he steadfastly refused. Passing records? The only records that count right now are in the "won" and "lost" columns, he said.

"I just try to keep plugging along," he said. "I really look at it as if each play is an individual play. If coach asks me to make a throw on third down in the red area, and it's a touchdown, great. And if we run it in, great.

"Touchdowns are not really important to me," he said. "Winning games is the most important thing. Getting the team in the end zone, making first downs there's a lot that goes into playing quarterback. And when you win, I think that's the most satisfying thing."

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com