McGinest examines situation
HOUSTON -- Willie McGinest doesn't count among his many duties submitting the Patriots' weekly injury report. But if he were in charge of classifying the Super Bowl status of fellow linebacker Tedy Bruschi, McGinest would go with "probable."
"I'm expecting him to play," McGinest said last night during his press conference at the team hotel. "I don't have a doctor's report for you on what's going on with him, but we've had guys fight through injuries and different things. [Mike] Vrabel has been playing with a broken arm all year. A lot of different guys have been going through a lot of different injuries.
"For the biggest game in the world, I think Bruschi will be ready. I'm hoping he'll be ready. I want him out there. If he can't for some reason, then our linebackers are still going to be ready. We all rotate anyway. I have all the confidence in the world in Ted Johnson or whoever's going to be out there."
Bruschi, who reportedly suffered a calf strain late in the AFC Championship game, did not practice last week. New England did not practice on yesterday's travel day and won't get into full workouts in preparation for the Panthers until Wednesday.
"I think Tedy's a lot better than he was last week," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. "We'll take it day to day. Our big work day starts on Wednesday, so we'll see where he is then. He's been getting treatment three, four times a day. He's doing everything he can to get ready.
"Tedy's a great competitor and a real good football player who'll do everything he can to be there Sunday night. We'll just have to see how that progresses. But he's made a lot of improvement."
On what, if we may ask?
"He's got a sore leg," Belichick said, "but it's getting better."
Staying focused The Patriots refuse to bite into the "best ever" bait, which the waters are filled with these days.
Lately the Patriots, with the possibility of winning a second Super Bowl in three seasons, have heard themselves and "dynasty" mentioned in the same breath. To them, especially Belichick, that kind of talk is a bunch of hot air.
"Nothing else means anything to us," Belichick said. "Not next week, not the regular-season schedule, not two years ago, not one year ago. The only thing we care about is the Carolina Panthers. That's it. We're not really talking about [a dynasty]. That's for everybody else to talk about, but not us."
Belichick obviously has told his players to follow his lead, and do their best to avoid falling into the same trap the Rams did two years ago.
"I think this team is so focused on winning this game to where the other things, I mean they're great, and they're nice accomplishments, but in the end, what to do you have to show for it?" tight end Christian Fauria said. "Right now, I have a T-shirt, I have a hat, and I guess I have part ownership of the AFC Championship trophy. But it's never going to be at my house. So me personally, I really don't have anything to really brag about to my kids."
Quarterback Tom Brady defined a dynasty as a team that "you can count on to be at the top every year." He also said it takes more than three successful seasons to qualify for consideration. New England first has to take care of Carolina. Recall that Green Bay was headed toward a second straight title and establishing itself as a dynasty when it lost to Denver in Super Bowl XXXII. So were the 2001 Rams, who won Super Bowl XXXIV two years earlier.
"The Packers were going up against a John Elway-led team that was as tough as there was, and the Rams came across a Patriot team that played great football that day," Brady said. "I think we're going to be prepared to go out there. There's not going to be a letdown, there's not going to be anything we take for granted. I don't think our coach allows us to do that.
"The way we prepare and the way we go out there and practice, that's just not really the way it happens for us."
Pressing matters Belichick and six player representatives (Brady, Fauria, Bobby Hamilton, Rodney Harrison, Ty Law, and McGinest) arrived an hour late to the AFC news conference at the team hotel. The Patriots were scheduled to meet the media at 5 p.m. local time. "We were supposed to get here at a certain time and we got here later," Belichick said. "I couldn't explain it. A few minutes here, a few minutes there, it just all added up." . . . The Super Bowl will be the Patriots' first game away from Gillette Stadium since Dec. 20, at the New York Jets. "We got on the plane and we saw the flight attendants we hadn't seen since the Jet game," Fauria said. "It was funny because we were always joking around, `Hey, we'll see you when we go to the Super Bowl.' And, sure enough, here we are." . . . Harrison and his wife, Ericka, are expecting any day now. Harrison doesn't have to wear a beeper, however. He said his wife will join him in Houston.
