« Brady: longest drive | Main | Tuesday plan »

Tedy Time

BOLTON -- Linebacker Tedy Bruschi answered a variety of questions before participating in the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation golf tournament today.

The Q&A touched on the main themes that several reporters were focusing on today, from Asante Samuel's contract situation; to high expectations; to the new additions on the team:

How has your offseason been?
“It’s been a great offseason. I started off with a vacation, relaxed with the family. Before you know it, you’re back working out at the end of March. That’s what we’ve been doing since.”

Could you comment on going to New Orleans for the funeral of Marquise Hill?
“It was a sad occasion, but it was something we all felt strongly about doing. It was nice of the organization to get us all down there and pay our respects.”

As far as the additions to the team, it must make you excited.
“It does make me excited. I’m looking forward to seeing them help. That’s all I can say about it now. Right now, there is a process they have to go through, too. They have to go through the minicamps and the workouts and Adalius, Randy and Wes, a lot of the guys are here, working out, trying to get better. We’ll see how it goes come training camp.”

How is your golf game?
“It’s OK. I got the [right] wrist out of the cast about a month ago, so I’m a little behind.”

How is your wrist feeling?
“It’s doing well. I’m participating in the workouts fully now. It’s amazing what time does, you get a little bit of rest when you’re not pounding on it every day.”

Knock on wood, but how much are you looking forward to playing a season when that’s not in a cast or brace?
“I had to deal with it last year. Every time there is a football season, there might be something else to deal with, besides a wrist. We all have certain things you have to deal with when you’re going through a physical season like we do. Going into training camp healthy is very exciting.”

Is the wrist particularly hard to deal with at your position, where you’re shedding blocks?
“That’s football in general, when you have anything you have to compensate for. I’m over it now and looking forward to the season.”

We got a sneak peek of the flexibility you might have on defense in the passing camp last week. How much of that aspect are you looking forward to with Adalius Thomas here?
“It’s going to be most fun for Bill, I think. For Bill to be able to use different combinations and different defensive fronts with the various personnel groupings we may have. I’m going to be excited coming into Wednesdays seeing what he’s cooked up.”

The minicamp tomorrow, you get back to business…
“Tomorrow is the formal minicamp. We’ve had a little bit of background with the passing camps, but now we can really dive into things. I think guys will really start to get serious now, because it’s June. July is just around the corner, and come the end of July, it’s the season.”

What is the difference between a passing camp and minicamp?
“The way we structured it now, it can be somewhat similar. But I think when you get some passing camp done before the minicamp, you can build on that. So the progression of more defensive terminologies are used, and more defenses are put in. So I think with that, it becomes a little more mentally challenging.”

Have you paid any attention to the prognosticators? It seems like you guys are picked as Super Bowl champs most of the time.
“We’ve got a formula. You can’t really pay attention to that. You have to pay attention to your formula. Look at what you have to do tomorrow, or even simpler than that, what do you have to do today. How you just focus on the meeting you’re in right now, the practice you’ll have after your meetings. If you keep that focus, and not worry about anything else, we’re hoping we’re going to do some good things.”

Rodney Harrison loves the disrespect card, though. Is he going to be able to find something?
“He’ll find a way to play it, somehow, someway [laughter]. That’s who we are. A lot of guys in our locker room have chips on their shoulders. It’s hard to get rid of that sometimes. I don’t think a lot of us will ever get rid of that.”

As a professional, do you pay attention to Asante’s situation or do you try to block it out?
“You pay attention to it, because he’s a teammate of yours, and a teammate of yours that helped you win football games and you want him back, to help you to continue to win football games. That’s all you can really think about. There is nothing you can really say or do to remedy the situation at all. It’s between him and the organization.”