In an interview on WEEI’s Kirk & Callahan show, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady discussed some of the ins and outs of the Patriots’ intricate offense, saying that 500 to 1,000 plays are designed during a season.

While Brady stated that not all of those plays will ever get called during the course of a season, the idea and work behind creating such a high amount of plays is a testament to the success of this offense over the years.

Yet, as Brady notes, not every play is original.

“I would say there’s a pretty core group of plays that you have, but we have, I don’t know the numbers, but there’s over the course a season, pass plays, there’s probably anywhere from 500 to 1,000 that are designed and you’ll probably call 500 to 600 of them, and there will be repeats in that,” Brady told WEEI. “There’s definitely repeats. We change quite a bit week to week. That’s why you need really smart players on our offense to be able to adapt to the changes we make based on the matchups that we see, or the coverages that we’re going to face, or how the team has played us in the past.

“I think we’re very much like we focus on what they do, they focus on what we do. We have a big plan at the start of the week and we kind of narrow it down over the course of the week and then by the time we get to game day we’re really confident in the things that we’re calling. Like the play I threw to James , the Chiefs ran it — that was the touchdown play that they had to Kareem Hunt, that long one when they got behind the defense.”

Following the success the Kansas City Chiefs had against New England in the season opener, head coach Bill Belichick and other Patriots’ coaches work to mimic plays that will result in their own success on offense, as Brady mentioned.

“You see different things over the course of the league,” Brady said. “Our coaches do a great job studying — things that are working, things that are confusing. It was a little variation of what the Chiefs did, but similar action, and we got some confusion on the defense and they really missed James out of the backfield. Had I not thrown it to James, I had Dion Lewis over near the sideline, and no one was on him either. It’s just a really good play and perfect call at the time.”