Tom Brady has insisted that the New England Patriots have done a "decent job" so far this pre-season.

The AFC East side have won their games against the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, despite being without a number of their leading receivers from the 2012 season.

The quarterback told reporters: "It's about our whole team being on the same page and the anticipation of what we're trying to do as an offense. Offensive football is always about 11 guys being on the same page. We've done a decent job of that the first two weeks in the pre-season and those are good test runs for us.

"It's all build up for one thing, and that's the opener. This week it's Detroit and we're going to try to see if we can work hard to be on the same page so we can go out and produce against Detroit. They've got a very good team, a very challenging front and it will be a big test.

"We're just going through the days of practice. You don't wish these practices away, you need these practices to develop the team, develop your conditioning and your toughness and all of these things. You just take it day by day. It's all helpful. You can never have enough practice and that's how I feel. I approach practice very seriously."

The Patriots will play the Detroit Lions on Thursday.