Excitement is in the air for Brady

Tom Brady (left) talks a good game with fellow Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel at minicamp. (David Kamerman/Globe Staff)

FOXBOROUGH - "Where do you guys want me?" asked Tom Brady to his questioners following practice yesterday. Brady was exactly where Patriots fans want him, on the field, sweating out the second day of mandatory minicamp.

The Patriots' franchise quarterback wasn't being hounded by paparazzi in Brazil or Costa Rica or New York. He was throwing passes to his receivers and encouraging teammates. Celebrity or not, Brady is still first and foremost a football player.

"It's fun for everyone to come out here and to play. I'm always excited to be out here. This is what I love to do," said Brady, who is preparing for his ninth NFL season.

Brady broke his offseason silence yesterday, speaking with the media for 10 minutes 45 seconds. Call it the offseason State of the Quarterback address. The most important bit of information he offered up was that his injured right ankle, which rendered him a sitting duck in the Patriots' 17-14 upset loss to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII, is not still hindering him.

The reigning NFL MVP was asked how the ankle feels, and if it prevented him from participating in the offseason program as much as in past offseasons.

"The ankle feels great," said Brady. "Yeah, it feels really good. I've been able to do pretty much everything. I'm still slow. I still can't jump. I still don't lift very much. That hasn't changed."

What has changed is his team. Brady made that clear. The remarkable season he had in 2007 - the capstone of which was his NFL-record 50 touchdown passes - along with New England's 16-0 regular season and the painful loss in the Super Bowl, all are in the past.

"Every year has been a different year. This is a new team and there are new challenges," said Brady. "You come out here the first day, and it's not like this is the 2007 team revisited. There are new players and there's a new element to what we're going to face. We don't pick up where we left off last year. We're starting where everybody else is starting."

What hasn't changed is that Brady still will be flinging passes to Randy Moss, who caught 23 of Brady's TD tosses last season, breaking the NFL mark. The Patriots re-signed the sui generis wide receiver, ensuring that Brady will have his favorite target. The two established an instant on-field rapport in their initial season together, propelling the Patriots to a league-record 589 points.

"Yeah, Randy and I, we have a great relationship," said Brady. "I know this is the place where he wanted to be, and we wanted him. So, usually the contract situations work out when that happens. He adds so much to this offense. I don't know if you guys saw him out here the past few days, but he's really in great shape.

"It was a great way to start his Patriots career last year. I'm sure he's hoping to find ways to improve the things he needs to improve on, but it's great to have him out there."

A perfectionist, Brady said he's also looking to improve on last season, when he set an NFL record for touchdown-interception differential (plus-42), set team records for passing yards (4,806) and completion percentage (68.9), and recorded the second-highest passer rating in league history (117.2).

"We're always trying to find ways to evolve as a team and evolve as an offense," said Brady. "You realize that a lot of the things we did last year probably won't work this year. It's important to move forward and understand the things that we need to do better. I'm not going to tell you guys that. I don't want the Jets to find out. But there is plenty for this team to improve on."

Brady smiled when he made the Jets comment. He may have lost his privacy, but not his sense of humor. However, No. 12 does expect stiffer competition in the division this year with Bill Parcells recasting the Dolphins and the Jets' brain trust of Eric Mangini and Mike Tannenbaum spending heavily in free agency.

"We won every game in the division last year, so it couldn't be anything but closer," said Brady. "So, hopefully those teams make the improvements that they're trying to make.

"We always have a very tough division. Even though we went undefeated [in the division] last year, those games were tight. The second Jet game was very tight. All those teams have made improvements. Every team is trying to make improvements. We're trying to make improvements."

It's pretty hard to improve on 18-1, but one way for Brady to do it would be to lead New England to the fourth Super Bowl title of his career. He seemed destined to join Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana as the only quarterbacks to hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy four times.

Brady admitted the ending to last season was very disappointing, but Super Bowl XLII is history. The focus now is on the long road to Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa Feb. 1, 2009.

"To win a Super Bowl is a great accomplishment," said Brady. "There's only one team that gets to do it each year. We've been fortunate to do it a couple of times. It's an exciting feeling. There are a lot of things that come along with it. You just hope you get to enjoy it when you go through it. I hope we can go through it again at some point."

Christopher L. Gasper can be reached at cgasper@globe.com.