Brady in it for the joy of six

TOM BRADY has sent the rest of the NFL a warning as he fixes his mind on an unprecedented sixth Super Bowl win.

The New England Patriots quarterback (above) turned 41 in August and has overseen an average season by his team’s standards. But he knows that lifting the trophy is about coming good at the right time.

He takes his Patriots to Pittsburgh tonight to face the Steelers, with both teams desperate to secure a play-off berth with just three games left in the regular season.

Brady said: “We’ve got a lot of football ahead of us and December is when it matters. It matters year-round but [in December] there’s so few games left, everyone’s fighting for play-off spots. We’ve put ourselves in a decent position. It hasn’t been perfect, but everything’s ahead of us.”

Brady’s wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, was asked by Ellen Degeneres this week about when she would like to see him retire but age is not even on his mind.

Brady said: “I chose this sport. It’s a physical, violent sport. It’s hard for family members who love you and care about you to encourage you to get back out there, deal with physical pain and they know that pain is inflicted.

“But it’s been such a part of my life and I love the sport. Out on the practice field I’m thinking, ‘there’s no place I’d rather be.’

“When you love something as much as I do, and football has been that thing in my life that I’ve loved, I want to do it until I can’t do it anymore at a championship level.”