Taylor: 'Brady's a winner for a reason'

Meeting the media before the Patriots' charity golf tournament Monday, Fred Taylor joked about being a bit of a newcomer to the golf course.

"By the the looks of things, I'm the only player to come out here without a collared shirt," Taylor said with a smile, "so I'm 95 bucks the hole right now."

Taylor also joked that is his golf game "isn't par at all," but if there's one thing he knows it's football. The veteran running back first said that nothing surprised him about the Patriots' voluntary OTA sessions, noting that "football is football."

But asked about perceptions that had changed during his time in New England, Taylor took a minute to praise quarterback Tom Brady.

"I will say, Tom, he's a winner for a reason," said Taylor. "Sometimes you sit back when you're on the outside and say, 'Man, these guys are just the lucky ones.' Then you see the intensity, the passion he shows in practice. He want to be perfect on every throw, every dropback. He's a winner for a reason, but he's humble. You don't get that combo quite often. He's a true leader. That might be the most surprising thing of everything.

"On the other side, you're a little bit upset, a little jealous. You envy those guys. (The Patriots) knocked us out of the playoffs twice. You sit back and think, 'We should have had it.' Truthfully, you go in and see they deserved it. They earn it."