No storm will stop Brady, Pats from preparing
FOXBORO — Patriots quarterback Tom Brady made small talk about the big weather event going on yesterday at Gillette Stadium.
The Patriots were briefly exposed to the monster nor’easter while in transit from the stadium locker room to the Empower Field House where they continued game preparations for an opponent to be named later.
“It was pretty nasty and but it was nice being in the bubble,” said Brady during a post practice press briefing in the media room at Gillette Stadium. “These conditions have (been) that kind of year here and abnormally cold. But I think it’s been good for us to get out there and practice in it so I think today would have been impossible.
“There was a lot of wind and it would have been interesting if we had played today and I don’t know what would have happened. But it would have been tough like the one Buffalo had against Indy this year.”
Inside Empower Field House it was business as usual in what has become the Patriots’ annual rite of winter. The Patriots won the AFC East and earned the top seed in the playoffs and a bye week.
The Patriots have used their off week to work on fundamentals, allow tired aching bodies to heal and let lesser teams slug it out for the right to visit wintery Foxboro on Jan. 13.
Nobody knows the drill better than Brady, who will start his NFL record 14th career divisional playoff game against either the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills or Tennessee Titans, depending on how wild card weekend plays out.
“I think it is trying to stay sharp and it is still football season, so it not a week off at all,” said Brady. “We are trying to stay sharp and we’ve worked hard to get to this, but we have a lot more to go.
“We are still writing our story and hopefully we’ll write a good one. The weekend is full of football and it’s kind of getting ready to go for next week. Everybody has to work hard to get to this point and think it’s got to be a good productive couple of days.
“Hopefully everybody gives their body a little rest but our minds have to stay sharp. Whoever we play is going to be a damned good team and we have to go out and play really well.”
Brady owns nearly every significant postseason passing record. He has thrown the most touchdown passes (63) and is tied with Daryle Lamonica and Steve Young for the most in one game with six.
Brady has more playoff starts (34), more wins (25), Super Bowl wins (five) and Super Bowl MVP awards (four) than any quarterback in NFL history.
“I’m hoping next week I’ll feel great and be 100 percent ready to go, and I’m excited for that,” Brady said. “I think it’s always valuable to evaluate where you are at and what you’ve done and what you are doing well and what you are not doing well.
“To have that luxury is great because usually you don’t have time. It is a tight squeeze anyway to get the whole game plan in for the week and we go right up to the very end.”