A very Brady sequel

Improved QB determined to recapture glory

By Jackie MacMullan, Globe Staff, 9/7/2003

FOXBOROUGH -- To measure progress, you must gauge advancement toward a goal or a higher purpose. Can you now see Tom Brady's quandary? His pilgrimage began at the pinnacle. The fervent wish of any professional football player is to win a Super Bowl ring; Brady completed that quest on his very first attempt.

The letdown after such a whirlwind journey is predictable; so, too, is the inevitable tearing down of the icon. The Patriots were casualties of their own lofty status last season, catching no one unaware and looking entirely mortal in the trudge through a 9-7 campaign.

The quarterback, the overnight poster boy sensation, easily could have been targeted to absorb the wrath of disappointed fans, who at the very least expected a repeat playoff appearance. But Brady's numbers were, in some instances, even better than the year he was declared invincible. He threw for more yards (3,764), more touchdowns (28) -- and yes, two more interceptions (14) -- while his completion percentage dipped only slightly, from 63.9 to 62.1.

"Even though the team didn't do as well, Brady may have been better," said Buffalo Bills general manager Tom Donahoe, whose team faces the Patriots today in the season opener. "Some of that is just maturity. He's developing into a very good quarterback. He's extremely competitive, and, from the outside looking in, seems to be very popular with his teammates. And he knows where to go with the ball. He doesn't make many mistakes."

Year 3 of the quarterback's journey kicks off today with Brady and his team no longer at the pinnacle. They tumbled down the mountain long ago, regrouping as a collection of footsoldiers preparing for the grueling trek back up the hill. No bull's-eyes were needed on the back of their jerseys in this summer's exhibition games. The Patriots are just another football team again, although Brady is not just another quarterback.

"He's got it," said Charley Armey, general manager of the St. Louis Rams. "When I look back on the Super Bowl tape, I'm impressed with his poise and his confidence. No matter how well a guy does in college, you can never be sure how well he'll do at our level, because of the speed of the game.

"Brady has the patience to deal with it. He bought into a system the Patriots devised for him, and he has functioned within that system at a high level."

As the quarterback grows, he yearns to expand that offensive system, to test his maturity on the field. He has already been tested in his personal life by an avalanche of publicity that obliterated any fleeting hopes of occasional anonymity. Brady no longer needs a police escort to drop off his dry cleaning, but he may never be able to wander into a movie theater uninterrupted again.

"I'm more comfortable with finding ways to get things accomplished," said Brady. "When I look back on that [Super Bowl] year, in a lot of ways I was still very young. I'm not saying I'm the sage old veteran now, but I feel older.

"You've got to grow up quickly. This job demands it."

Reality check

The sobering release of Lawyer Milloy for salary cap purposes last week only cemented Brady's belief that football is all about business. He saw that first-hand when coach Bill Belichick promised an injured Drew Bledsoe that he'd have his job when he returned, only to change his mind when Brady led the team on a winning streak. Loyalty, says Brady, is simply not compatible with the NFL.

"I think it's OK to think that way," Brady said. "I learned a tough lesson coming out of Michigan [where Drew Henson encroached on his status as the No. 1 quarterback]. I thought I was owed something. That wasn't the way it was.

"I'll never forget that. I'll always work, so at least at the end of the day I can say, no matter what happens, that I did my part. I can sleep at night. I might not like the outcome, but I'll believe in myself. I'm sure Lawyer still believes in himself."

Belichick's hard-line stances are legendary, and forecasters have already predicted that Ty Law will be gone at the end of the season -- if not sooner. Brady, by virtue of the confidence the coach has exhibited in him, is considered immune from the bottom-line mentality.The quarterback says he knows better.

"I'm [Belichick's] guy until we lose some games," said Brady, on the day Milloy was released. "I'm no dummy. I know everybody is going to treat you one way on the way up, but it's going to be the other way when you're coming down."

He was unprepared for the adulation that enveloped him as the Super Bowl season unfolded, and found it to be both exhilarating and exhausting.

"After we won the Super Bowl, I was down at the Pro Bowl thinking, `I'm so tired. Get me out of here,' " Brady said. "It was too bad I felt that way. That's when it hit me that I couldn't do everything. I couldn't make everybody happy. And I couldn't do it all alone."

The Pro Bowl did turn out to be useful. Surrounded by some of the best players in football, Brady took mental notes of their specific talents.

"Rich Gannon was in the game, and he had mirror receivers on both sides," said Brady. "He did a three-step drop back, and was looking to throw the ball to the slant [receiver]. He looked right, pump-faked, and jumped to the left and threw the ball without ever looking over there. He put the ball in Marvin Harrison's hands, and Harrison ran 60 yards for a touchdown.

"When he came over to the sidelines, I said, `Rich, how did you do that? What were you looking at?' He said, `Well, I've run that play a lot of times now.' "

Brady cannot fast-forward to gain more experience, nor can he acquire it in film sessions, strategy meetings, or offseason workouts. He has no choice but to patiently wait, listen, learn, and adjust. His coach said the difference from Year 1 to Year 3 has been a subtle process of acquired information.

"Tom is the type of player that rather than see one thing in his game that jumps significantly from here to there, he might have 10 different things that improve incrementally," Belichick said.

Opponents have singled out Brady's ability to identify defenses as his most improved area.

"He wasn't as sure of himself in the pocket as he is now," Donahoe said. "He's just a lot more poised."

"That Super Bowl year, if you remember, he had one day where he had something like four interceptions in the Denver game," said Armey. "They were heavily blitzing him.

"That kind of coverage doesn't bother him so much anymore. Now he's got good sight adjustment in the huddle.

"That might be one of the things I like most about Brady. If he sees something at the line, he's mentally quick enough to bring the ball down, and eat it, or throw it away, instead of letting something really bad happen to the offense."

Long and short of it

As the quarterback blossoms, a nagging question lingers. Brady's detractors remain unconvinced that he has the talent to throw the long pass. Asked about this persistent criticism, and if he thought a bigger, taller receiver would quell some of the criticism, Brady answered, "Sure, it would be great to have a big receiver. And I'm sure my receivers would like a guy who can run around back there and buy them time to get open, too."

Pressed to address his ability to execute the deep patterns, Brady responded, "Well, if it's not one thing, it's another. Can I throw the long ball? Hell, yeah. Have I shown it? Not to my liking. It's one of the many things I'm working on."

Armey said such criticism is unfounded.

"First of all, he has enough arm strength to throw the long ball," said Armey. "And second of all, arm strength is the most overrated thing in football. Accuracy, getting the ball off on time, and getting it to the right person is what matters.

"All I know is that pass he threw on the last drive to win the Super Bowl looked like a pretty good long ball to me."

As Brady tries to bring his team back to the playoffs, he has cut down on some of his appearances and endorsements. He has never, he insists, allowed any of his extracurricular activities to interfere with football.

"I've been around a lot of players at this point," said Patriots owner Robert Kraft, "and I've seen the sense of celebrity ruin them. The demands on Tom have been quite extensive. But he's learned how to handle it. He hasn't fallen into the trap of believing his own celebrity. He hasn't allowed himself to be intoxicated by it."

Once in a while, Brady drifts back to a time before this incredible journey began, when he was another fresh-faced backup quarterback who tried to meet girls by telling them he played for the Patriots. Many times, the ladies would roll their eyes and move on. Now they send him marriage proposals in the mail.

"I don't like what some of this has done," Brady said. "I feel so out of touch with my family sometimes. I mean, I still talk to them 2-3 times a week, but I used to talk to them every day. And, for a while there, I was lucky if I checked in with them once a week. At that point, you start saying, `What am I doing?' "

Year 3 for the quarterback features a new young linebacker in Rosevelt Colvin, a new fullback (Larry Centers) who likes to catch passes, a hot young receiver (Bethel Johnson) who can really move, and a gaping hole where Brady's close friend Milloy would have been starting.

"If there's one thing you take out of it, it's you better be aware every single day," said Brady. "And even when you are aware, something could still happen. If you start getting a big ego, and thinking you are the be-all and end-all, you're not safe. No one is safe."

Not even the quarterback who reached out and grabbed the brass ring on the very first try.