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Brady checks in
Some of the Q&A from quarterback Tom Brady today:
Does it make you feel that much closer to the regular season doing your interview here in the locker room?
"It definitely does. I think all the players, after about a month of being here for camp, are excited to get into a little bit more of a regular season schedule. There are still two practices today and we’re going to need it. There’s a lot of improvement to make, which is obvious. But I think this team is prepared to work hard and try to go out and a have a better week this week than we had last week.
What were your impressions of Friday’s game?
"Just like I said, I think it’s part of the process of building. With the mistakes, hopefully you learn from the mistakes. We’re learning a lot about what we’re capable of and what we’re doing. The good things you try to build on and the bad ones you try to eliminate. Hopefully this is a better week."
You took a couple of good shots during that game, how are you holding up? And what do you attribute that to?
"I'm doing pretty good. Usually I don't have enough muscles to hurt or anything like that. I'm immune to muscle strains or aches or things like that. I think it's part of the job description. You take hits. It's just part of playing quarterback. You stand back there and hold the ball and everyone is coming to attack you and I think it showed there is a lot of work that needs to be done by all of us. ... When it doesn't go perfect you come in and the coach comes in and screams at you and yells at you try to go out there and take it to heart and make improvements."
Do you prepare differently for a third pre-season game?
"You prepare hard for every game because if you're not prepared you're susceptible to getting hurt, so you try to understand what the defense is going to do and put together a good game-plan. You'd hate to go out there and not perform well because you really build confidence from the games. We do from practice, but really from the games we get out there and you can build on those game performances. We're going to put together a game plan and go down there and attack what this defense does. It's a very good defense, so it should be a good test for us. "
Is the offense behind?
"It's hard to measure. I'd say we need to make improvements. I wish you could always pick up from where you left off the previous year, but the reality is that doesn't always happen. You come back and you have a new team and you develop a new identity and the one thing I've learned over the last eight years is that it takes time and it takes work together. As long as everyone is willing to work hard and brings an attitude and energy and is willing to get better and improve then the team ends up being pretty good. But we're a long way from the end of that process, so I'm excited to see what kind of work we put in."
How was it having Vinny Testaverde out there with you this morning?
"It feels good. It gives my arm a little less wear and tear. He’s such a great guy. I think everybody loves having Vinny around. In the meetings he’s great. He brings a lot of experience and he’s a great guy so he’s fun to have around."
Based on what he brought to the team last year, what do you think he will bring to the team this year?
"He adds depth. He adds quality and experience and leadership and attitude and all those things you look for in a New England Patriot. He’s a perfect fit."
How do you feel about the team’s potential now compared to the beginning of camp?
"I’m always excited. I’m always excited about our potential, but the potential and the reality is something that’s very different. I’ve heard over the last six months the expectations for this team that we can just go out there and throw the ball on whomever we want and run it and gain 450 yards a game. But it takes a lot. It takes a lot of guys coming together, finding a role and playing with toughness and effort. We haven’t played any regular season games to see where we’re really at. We’ve got two very valuable weeks coming up in order to get ready for our opener. The potential of the team, that’s one thing, but going out there to see what we can accomplish starting Week 1 is what’s most important."
Making the shift to more of a regular season schedule this week, does it feel like you’re really getting close to the Jets opener?
"Yeah, it does and there’s more urgency after each game because you realize you’re that much closer and you want to make improvements. There’s an urgency to it because all these other teams are gaining and gaining, making improvements just as quickly. If you kind of flatten out in certain ways and you’re not making improvements, then you’re losing ground on everybody else."
Donté Stallworth said it’s not like a video game playing in real life. In that respect, is it tough not having all the pieces together, like not having Randy Moss out there right now?
"Sure, that’s a big part of it. For example, a guy like Donté, he’s really practiced with us for a week and he’s had one game of experience. He gets out there and you’re very excited about what’s going on. You’re trying to do the best you can do. He’s trying to go out there and perform well. And there’s situations that come up, like I say, it’s really a process every time you come into a new season. You’ve got to figure out what to do and then you figure out how to do it and then if it doesn’t go exactly as you’d planned it, you’ve got to figure out how to make adjustments. All of those things that come up, even with a guy like Kevin Faulk that I’ve played with for seven years now; we still make adjustments so we’re much farther along. Kevin and I don’t need to talk about everything because so many situations have come up in the past with Kevin that he’s familiar with what I’m thinking and I can really anticipate what he’s going to do based on previous experience. So you’re talking about a guy that’s been out there one week and Kevin Faulk, who’s been out there for seven years and Troy Brown that I have eight years of experience with. I think with each player, it’s a little bit different. It’s obviously different when you have a veteran receiver like Donté and Randy and Kelley [Washington] and Wes [Welker] because they know the NFL and they know coverages and they know how to set defenders up and so forth. But at the same time, you have to go out there and still, we need to be on the same page. The more that we can be on the same page, the more we look and anticipate where I’m going to throw the ball or how he’s going to come out of a break. That’s how the passing game really starts to click. That’s how teams that have been very successful in the passing game, those are the teams that it’s great to have the consistency and that’s something that we’re going to really search for and we’re going to work hard for. It makes it that much more rewarding in the end when you realize how much effort you put into it and when you look back at it at the end of the year you say, 'God, we had a great year, from where we started and where we ended up.' It brings a great sense of, as I’ve felt over the last seven years, the accomplishment you feel is pretty great. So we’re starting at a stage and we’ve got to just build from it and the faster that we can get everybody out there, working together, the faster that I think we can start to make some serious improvements."
