Houston — Tom Brady's frustrations with how the Patriots offense has been performing this season hit another note in Sunday night's 28-22 loss to the Texans, and this time, it was caught on camera as NBC's 'Sunday Night Football' crew showed the animated quarterback fired up with his wide receivers on the sideline during the first half.

Whatever Brady was telling them has been dissected and tried to be uncovered by lip-readers, but the fact of the matter is the Patriots passing game, which is fighting against youth, injuries and new faces, is clearly not where it needs to be at this point of the season, and it showed again in Sunday's loss.

But that doesn't mean he's giving up on his pass-catchers, even if he stopped looking to some of them. Brady didn't target N'Keal Harry again after a pass to the rookie resulted in an interception, and the quarterback seemed frustrated throughout the night after a series of miscommunications, including some with Phillip Dorsett.

But when asked about those frustrations during his weekly appearance on 'The Greg Hill Show' Monday morning, Brady came to their defense. Of note, the quarterback said he would never try to freeze out any of his receivers.

"I would never think that way ... 'I'm done with him,'" Brady said. "That is crazy. A quarterback's responsibility is to lead and motivate. We're often the voice of a lot of situations because first, we're calling plays in the huddle and B, we have a lot of information because we talk with the coaches and coordinators with what we're trying to do. We're trying to motivate people and get people to play their best.

"Guys are trying. I have no problem — I love playing with Phillip Dorsett. I love playing with N'Keal. N'Keal is working his tail off. He hasn't had a lot of opportunities out there and he's learning as he's going. To expect someone to go out in their third game of the year and be perfect, I think that is unrealistic for anyone.

"I love what N'Keal is bringing. We're gaining confidence every week. I love what Jakobi (Meyers) is doing. We're gaining confidence every week. Gaining confidence with Mohamed (Sanu). Julian (Edelman) and I, we've played together for a long time and I think that shows itself pretty well. I think you see, James (White) and I, we've played together a long time."

Even though Brady is gaining confidence with his receivers, the results have largely been inconsistent. The offense seemed to run through Julian Edelman and James White on Sunday night, especially late as the Patriots tried to make a comeback, but everyone else was mostly silent.

The Patriots are 10-2 and tied atop the AFC, but even Brady implied that maybe expectations, at least with the offense, should be reset a little given where they are right now as a unit.

"We're learning as we go and by no means — we're not 2-10, we're 10-2," Brady said. "And I know there's very high expectations as there are for us. I think the expectations for our team often are at a very, very, very high level and I understand that, but at the same time I think there are realistic expectations with our circumstances incorporating different elements, and players and injuries. We're just trying to do the best we can do.

"We have our whole season ahead of us and we have to learn from the things we did last night and try and go out there and get a really tough win against (Kansas City) and see if we can get back to winning. That's what's going to be the most important thing this week."