FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) – Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been super, the defense has been stingy and the coach, typically, is far from satisfied.

It will take a lot more than starting the season with three routs for Bill Belichick to see his team as many others do – a powerful force that could keep dominating opponents.

“I think a lot of times early in the season, people get skewed and they get a misinterpretation or a poor impression of the way things really are based on very little evidence,” he said Monday.

The evidence so far shows:

Two 38-14 wins and Sunday’s 38-7 victory over the Buffalo Bills, Tom Brady with the best start of his career, and defenders who have allowed fewer points all season than New England has scored in each game.

Belichick sees evidence that isn’t quite as convincing:

Brady’s lost fumble at the Buffalo 1-yard line, a defense that has allowed touchdowns all five times the opponent moved inside the Patriots 20 and his own poor decisions.

“We haven’t stopped anybody yet, so it starts with me,” Belichick said. “We can’t let them in the end zone every time they cross the 20-yard line. It’s just ridiculous.”

He’s happy with the offensive balance between running and passing and the play of inside linebackers Tedy Bruschi, Adalius Thomas and Junior Seau.

But the outstanding start could stop next Monday night at Cincinnati, which lost by just three points at Seattle on Sunday. The teams the Patriots have beaten so far have a combined record of 2-7.

“Teams do get better as the season goes,” defensive lineman Jarvis Green said Monday. “If you stay the same, you’re going to be a team that won’t make the playoffs.”

In the other six seasons when the Patriots started at 3-0, they missed the playoffs four times. Two of their next five games are against Dallas and Indianapolis, both unbeaten

“I don’t think right now is really a good time to evaluate where any team is,” Belichick said. “We need to get better at the things that we’re not doing as well on and, if we don’t, I think it will hurt us in the long run.”

Before this season, the Patriots opened at 3-0 with Belichick and Brady twice. In 2002, they lost the next four games and finished at 9-7 and out of the playoffs. In 2004, they started at 6-0 and wound up at 14-2 then beat Philadelphia for their third Super Bowl championship in four seasons.

Brady got a boost this season with the addition of his first consistent deep threat. He and Randy Moss have teamed up for 22 completions for 403 yards and five touchdowns. The last score – a 45-yard over-the-shoulder completion near the end zone – impressed fullback Heath Evans when it happened and shocked him when he saw the tape Monday.

“Randy just reaches out so effortlessly and snags the ball with his fingertips,” Evans said, “and you’re sitting in the film session looking like, “wow. I’m so glad he’s on my team and I’m so glad I’m not a defensive back on some other teams. He’s something else.”

The precise placement of the pass was nothing new for Brady. His three-game streak of brilliance is.

In that stretch, he has three of the top six completion percentages of his career and three of his top 10 quarterback ratings. He’s completed 70 of 88 passes, a percentage of 79.5, with 10 touchdowns and one interception while being sacked just three times.

But Belichick said the Bills did some things early that he didn’t expect. And the Patriots didn’t take the lead against a defense depleted by injuries until fewer than six minutes remained in the second quarter.

Green wasn’t happy with his own play and expected Belichick to be tough on the team Monday.

“We thought it would have been a bash day as far as humble pie, but it wasn’t.” Green said. “We still have problems we have to fix.”

They may be small compared to other teams, but Belichick finds them. He even got on his players at last Thursday’s practice.

“Bill just speaks the truth and that’s what I love about him,” Evans said. “In practice, he didn’t beat around the bush. It was pathetic. We changed it.”

Three days later, the results of the Patriots game changed – a win by 31 points instead of the 24-point margin of the first two games.

“It just happened to hit that way early in the season, then everybody throws a lot more weight on it than what’s really deserved,” Belichick said.

AP-ES-09-24-07 1859EDT