Belichick on camp without Brady: 'We're not looking backwards'

For the first time in his 20 years coaching the New England Patriots, Bill Belichick must lead training camp without Tom Brady as his starting quarterback.

But in typical Belichick fashion, he says he's solely focused on the players currently on his roster.

"We've had a lot of great players over the course of that time and you can have the same conversation about all of them. ... You can go right down the line," Belichick said Friday when asked about not having Brady in camp, according to WBZ's Dan Roche. "So, it's professional football, it's the National Football League. Every team has changes every year - we have them, so does everybody else, and I think right now everybody's focused on this year.

"We're looking ahead, we're not looking backwards at anything. We're trying to look ahead and look at what our opportunities, challenges (are) that we have coming for this season."

Brady and Belichick won six Super Bowls together, arguably making them the most accomplished duo in league history. The 43-year-old departed for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in free agency this year, and Jarrett Stidham and the recently signed Cam Newton are competing for New England's starting role.

Newton appears to have gained momentum in the camp battle, as Stidham threw multiple interceptions over the last few days. However, Belichick isn't ready to anoint a starter just yet.

"I don't think it's really good for us as a coaching staff to over-evaluate an individual play when we have so many plays to work with," he said of Stidham's interceptions, via NESN's Zack Cox. "Every player makes mistakes out there. Every player gets corrected. ...

"It's certainly an ongoing (evaluation) that I think is going to become more important in succeeding days. The first day, two, three, whatever, is not as critical as going forward when you've been through things multiple times."

The Patriots kick off their season against the Miami Dolphins on Sept. 13.