FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) – If players learn from their mistakes, Tom Brady should be one of the NFL’s smartest quarterbacks this week.

The MVP of the 2002 Super Bowl began the new season with his worst game as a pro, and the New England Patriots had their most lopsided opening-day loss, 31-0 to the Buffalo Bills last Sunday.

“You make mistakes and you throw interceptions and you fumble the ball and you just try to evaluate what the problems were and you try to get better from it,” he said. “If you don’t fix them, you’re going to see them again.”

On Sunday, he’ll face the Philadelphia Eagles, whose own quarterback got off to a rough start. Donovan McNabb was 19-for-36 for 148 yards as Philadelphia lost to Tampa Bay 17-0 last Monday night.

Patriots tight end Christian Fauria still has confidence in Brady.

“I definitely see our guy coming back,” Fauria said. “I don’t really know the other guy that well.”

Against Buffalo, the Patriots trailed 21-0 in the second quarter before getting a first down. That limited offensive coordinator Charlie Weis’ play-calling options since Brady had to concentrate on throwing to try to get them back in the game.

“When you’re down 21-0, that game plan gets real small,” Brady said. “For Charlie to call plays, we put him in a tough spot. You’re out of a lot of the stuff that you worked on all week and they’re into a lot of things that they do well.”

Brady completed 14 of 28 passes for 123 yards, four interceptions and no touchdowns. In his previous 30 regular-season starts, he completed fewer than half his passes only once, threw four interceptions once and gained fewer than 123 yards passing three times. His quarterback rating of 22.5 was the worst of his career.

In his last eight regular-season games, he’s thrown for just seven touchdowns and eight interceptions, although he did lead the NFL with 28 touchdown passes while throwing just 14 interceptions last season.

And in the exhibition season, he threw for six touchdowns and no interceptions as the Patriots went 4-0, including a win over the Eagles.

That game “helps in the sense that you know who you’re playing against and you know their techniques and you know the speed,” Brady said. “The schemes, how much they’ll be different, that remains to be seen.”

Brady lacks the running ability of McNabb, so the Patriots know they must contain the Eagles’ quarterback.

“I think if you stop any quarterback on any team that you can have a good chance,” safety Rodney Harrison said.

It worked for the Bills last Sunday. Now Brady must forget about that.

“It’s time to try to put those things we learned to good use next Sunday. It’s not like we can wipe it all away with a magic wand,” he said. “You learn from the problems we had in the game and we’re moving on.”

AP-ES-09-12-03 1904EDT