New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said Monday morning the team has already moved on from its playoff victory over the Denver Broncos and started preparation for the Baltimore Ravens, whom he called "the best team we've faced all year."

"There's no one that's going to overlook a team like that. It would be impossible to do," Brady said in his weekly interview on Boston sports radio station WEEI. "They present a ton of challenges in all three phases of the game. You watch them yesterday, they're physical, they're tough, they can cover. They've got some of the best players in the history of the NFL at their position, in (Terrell) Suggs and Ray Lewis and Ed Reed and Haloti Ngata. You've got phenomenal players there.

"We've really got our work cut out for us. We'll be excited about the challenge. We'll use the week to prepare like we always do, and really try to be at our best -- hopefully be better than we were this past Saturday night."

It'll be tough for Brady and the Patriots to top their effort on Saturday night, when they thrashed the Broncos 45-10, dominating in every phase of the game. Of course, they need only to look back to the 2009 season to remember what can happen when a team comes out flat. The Ravens came into Gillette Stadium in the wild card round of the playoffs and embarrassed the Patriots, 33-14.

That game was over shortly after it began as the Ravens jumped to a 24-0 lead in the first quarter. This time around, the message from Patriots players is clear: the battle will need to be won before it is fought.

"We control how we play and how we prepare. You're going against a great football team. You have playmakers all across the board over there, some of the best guys to play their position are on that team," safety James Ihedigbo said on Monday. "We have to out-prepare them and get ready to play a physical football game."

Receiver Wes Welker didn't play in the wild-card loss to Baltimore. He watched from the owners' booth, one week after tearing his ACL in Houston.

"It's always tough when your team is out there playing and you're not able to, especially in the playoffs," he recalled. "I had such a good year that year, and wanting to be out there to help my team, I'm just glad it's behind me. I'm glad it's over and I'm glad I'm in the position I'm in to be able to play in this game and hopefully make the most of my opportunity."

Brady said avenging that wild card loss wasn't what would be driving him this week. Getting back to the Super Bowl for the fifth time in his career is motivation enough.

"This is nothing about '09 or '10. This is nothing about last week or last season or last month or 10 years ago. It's about this week," Brady said. "The clock's ticking. And every second that goes by, we're one second closer to getting to that game. We've got to use our time wisely, to repair, get our rest, and be ready to go out and face our biggest challenge of the season."

Players returned to work on Monday for meetings, turning the page from their rout over the Broncos.

"We're moving on. That was the message," rookie offensive tackle Nate Solder said. "I got a lot of studying to do."

"It's got to be a one-day-at-a-time thing," special teams captain Matthew Slater said. "You don't win a game on Sunday, you win it throughout the course of the week. Giving ourselves a chance to have success, it starts today."

One of the themes of last week was that the Patriots were treating their tilt with the Broncos as any other game. Players on Monday stressed how they are staying in their same routine this week for Sunday's AFC Championship matchup.

"During the season, the way that they do it here is you're getting into a system, a routine all season so you just continue to win," Solder said. "It's a routine machine, almost. I like going about it that way. That's how we're doing it."