An unbeaten and ladder-leading Adelaide outfit is ignoring hype about being the competition's early pacesetter.
"For us, nothing has really changed," Pyke said.
"We have won three games which is ideally what you want at the start of the season, but we have identified areas where we want to keep getting better.
"For us it's the first step in a long season.
"We're certainly not sitting here going 'great start, we're happy with ourselves and happy with our life'.
"We can't stop people writing opinion about where they might project or where their opinion might sit as to where we may finish.
"That is the furthest thing from our mind."
Pyke believed the seventh-placed Bombers, who last week lost for the first time this season, were now easier to read - but no less dangerous.
"People at the start of the year were saying a bit of an unknown," he said, referring to an Essendon side bolstered by the return of a batch of players after serving a drugs-related suspension last season.
"But I think there's a bit more known about them now.
"You look through their lines they have got a lot of quality players out there and are playing some good footy.
"We are prepared to face what we know is a good side."