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FOXBORO - As fitting for the Halloween season, the numbers being put in the record books by the New England Patriots' offense have been positively frightening.

But for Tom Brady, the most terrifying ghoul in the nightmares of his opposition, Sunday's 52-7 victory over the Washington Redskins was just another productive day at the office.

"The important thing was to really stay on track and get positive plays," Brady said after the rout that sent the 8-0 Patriots into next Sunday's showdown with the 7-0 Indianapolis Colts on a roll of Biblical proportions. "We had the one turnover, which was unfortunate, but for the most part it was a good day."

That may have been the understatement to beat all understatements. The Patriots posted 486 total yards, set a team record of 34 first downs, involved eight receivers and seven ball-carriers in the mix and converted 55 percent of their third-down chances and 100 percent of their fourth-down tries (2-2) to leave a 4-3 Washington team in shambles.

And yet, Brady never seems satisfied with his performances. He said that there were plays and points left on the field in this game, despite the lopsided score. "We can be more efficient," he said. "There were plenty of plays out there where the communication train between me and the receivers wasn't what we needed it to be. We got a lot of penalties out there. We got a strip-sack fortunately, our defense saved us, like they've been saving us all year when we turn the ball over."

Brady couldn't find fault with some aspects of the Patriots' performance, however.

For instance, he and Randy Moss finally got a chance to work the fake spike pass to perfection, as the two teamed up with 17 seconds left in the first half to put a score on the board. They tried the same play last week in Miami, and Moss made an impressive one-handed grab, but was out of bounds when he came down with the ball.

"Yeah, we tried it last week and I screwed it up so I tried to redeem myself this week," Brady said. "If you just throw it up to Randy, he usually catches it."

Brady also went to one of his favorite touchdown targets, linebacker Mike Vrabel, with 8:08 left in the second quarter. The 2-yard pass to a totally uncovered and untouched Vrabel was the 10th of his career, all for touchdowns.

"Mike was pretty open," Brady said. "I think it was a good sell by the offensive line, he just slipped out there and another touchdown catch for him. I just try to throw to guys that are open."

Still, it's amazing that Vrabel's success in short-yardage situations hasn't sunk in with other defensive coordinators around the league. But Brady said the Patriots' plethora of weaponry makes it difficult for opposing teams to cover all possibilities.

"If they're playing the pass and you run it then they're screwed," Brady said. "And if you try to make it look like a run and he slips out for a pass then you leave him open. He's very good at evading defenders and getting off the line of scrimmage. He's very quick and he uses his hands well. He's got good hands when he catches it."

Given all the success, including the hiking of his touchdown-pass total to a career-best 30 and counting, Brady still refuses to stand before the assembled media and admit that the Patriots have something special in the works.

"We're just trying to get better each day just trying to take these games and make improvements each week and try to put our best out there each week, and build on the stuff that we screwed up," he said. "It's a long season. It's not even November yet, we've got a lot of room for improvement left and we've got a long half of the season ahead."