Brady expects extended playing time vs. Redskins

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady met with the media this morning (11:15 a.m.) to discuss this week's exhibition game against the Redskins and his preparations for the 2009 season.

The subject of Brady's contract, which is set to expire following the 2010 season, also came up. Before that, though, Brady hinted that he's expecting extended playing time this week vs. Washington.

"I think we know we're going to play quite a bit, that's traditionally what we've always done," said Brady. "It's what we're all expecting to do. When you're out there in your third preseason game -- you're through those early phases of training camp, where you made a lot of those mistakes -- now, hopefully you're starting to get ready for the (regular-season) opener. So , we're spending more time -- we're not on the 2-a-day schedule any more -- so you actually have time to watch film on the opponent you're playing, it's very much like a normal week in terms of schedule, film study. I think that's how coach Belichick wanted to approach this week. He wants us to put together a good week, then go out and perform."

Asked about his performance thus far, Brady admitted the offense wasn't quite in midseason form just yet.

"I'd love to be perfect out there right now; it hasn't bee that way," said Brady. "I missed a few throws in this last game, made a few mental errors, so hopefully I try to make some of those improvements. Understand, it's different when you're out there practicing against your own team, day after day after day. You kinda get into a tempo, and I think once you get into those games, it's a different tempo. The more games we can play in, the better, as far as I'm concerned, for me and for my teammates. So you can understand where you're at. That's the reason for preseason games, you really get a measure of where you're at because you're competing against another team. You want to see how you stack up, how well you've been practicing, because there's not a lot of evidence when you're out there on the practice field and you have to put it to use. Like i said, I think this week be a really important step for us, we'll really get a good idea of where we are at as a team."

Brady was asked again about the hits he took against Cincinnati and whether that was good to get out of the way.

"I said it's good when you're a quarterback to get hit," said Brady. "Sometimes it just knocks -- you know before the game, you always have this anxiousness, nervousness about the game and then, once you take a hit, usually it goes away. Hopefully, none of those are circumstances where I'm making poor calls or anything like that, but part of playing quarterback is taking those hits and getting up. That's part of that position. ... Hopefully there are not too many of those this year, which we're working hard so it doesn't become an issue. But ones we can prevent like the other night I'd certainly like to prevent those."

Brady was also asked about his every throw being analyzed and whether his self-analysis is similar.

"I've been dealing with this for a long time, almost for the last year," said Brady. "I know where I'm at, I know how I feel, I know how comfortable I am back there. Like I really try to convey I felt like [the injury] was part of last season and this year has been a different year for me. I've already missed a year. I've already paid the price for it. Moving forward you just got to try to work as hard as you can to get back to your normal self. I really feel like I am and hopefully I can contribute in the way that I have in the past, so I don't think about it. I don't lose sleep over it. I just get up and try to make the right plays and make the right decisions. I think if I make a poor play I never have thought I wonder if that was because of my injury last year. I figure well I got to make improvements just like every year where things don't go your way."