FOXBORO — Joey Galloway knows all about getting acclimated to a new quarterback.
In his 14 years in the league, the veteran wide receiver has played for four teams. He was selected by the Seahawks in the first round of the 1995 draft, and he also played for the Cowboys and Buccaneers before signing with the Patriots as a free agent in March.
Before he got to New England, he was going through two and three quarterbacks a season.
“I’ve been with a lot of quarterbacks,” the 37-year-old said with a chuckle Thursday morning.
“I think you guys are spoiled up here, because Tom is different than probably 99 percent of the guys I’ve played with,” Galloway added with a smile. “There’s been a couple of guys that I’ve played with that are unique like that like he is. But yeah, it’s different.”
Galloway came to New England in large part because of the chance to work with Brady. It was believed that the Ohio State product, accorded as one of the better deep threats in the game for much of his career, could bring an added dimension to the New England passing attack.
But the veteran wide receiver, who had five catches for 53 yards last week against the Jets (after going without a reception in the opener against the Bills) has appeared to have trouble meshing with Brady on several occasions.
Galloway, who said he has not been frustrated by his performance thus far, said some of the transitional troubles can be attributed to the process of getting to know a new quarterback and some simply to working against a different defense from week to week.
“In this league, you play against a different defense every single week, and there’s going to be weeks when things look good, and there’s going to be weeks where things don’t look good,” Galloway said. “And that doesn’t mean that a quarterback and a receiver are not in sync. It just means that sometimes you’re going against a different look and a different scheme.
“I’ve been on a few different teams now, so I know that there’s a lot of work to do. There’s a lot of learning to do when you come into a new system.”
Galloway and Brady spent a lot of time working individually in spring practices and into training camp and the preseason. But the results were not always evident on the field — Galloway had six catches for 49 yards in the preseason, and had his first catch of the regular-season Sunday against the Jets. Against New York, there was a concerted effort to make him a part of the passing game — he was targeted 12 times on the day.
But on several occasions this year, Brady and Galloway appeared to suffer from communication issues, including a third-down pass attempt with just under nine minutes left in the first quarter against the Jets where the two clearly were not on the same page.
On Wednesday, Brady defended Galloway, saying the two have a “great relationship” and that Galloway has been working “extremely hard.”
“Every relationship with a receiver is different,” Brady said. “With some people, it’s very seamless. With others, you’ve got to put extra work in. Joey and I, we have a great relationship.
“He works extremely hard. He’s been in the league for a long time and he’s been in the league a long time for a reason: That’s because he’s professional and he’s added a lot to this offense.”
“It’s been a learning curve. It’s taken time. We have a lot of work to do,” Galloway said of his relationship with Brady. “We’ve worked extremely hard — we do every day. And we communicate a lot. As time goes on, we’ll get better.”
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