Brady: 'We Have Our Work Cut Out For Us'
BOSTON (CBS) – New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady did not mince words when it came to his performance in the AFC Championship, telling all of Gillette Stadium and a national television audience he "sucked."
Brady made a promise to owner Robert Kraft after the game, telling him he would be much better in two weeks. That's easier said than done against a New York Giants' defense that has given Brady trouble whenever the two meet up.
And Brady knows he will have to be at his best in order to hoist the Vince Lombardi trophy once again.
"I hope I do. I go out there and you try to be at your very best in the biggest game. My teammates really count on that, certainly I count on that," Brady said Thursday at Gillette Stadium. "There's a lot of preparation that goes into that. Playing with confidence and anticipation and understanding the game plan and going out and executing it when it matters the most. That's what it's going to take. It's a great team that we're playing; everyone is going to need to be at their best."
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"There's certainly a finality to this game that you're putting absolutely everything you can into it preparation-wise," said Brady. "You're expected to go out there and play at your very best. There's no reason why we shouldn't because we've had 110 practices, this is our 23rd game of the year. It's pretty incredible when you think of a real long football season. We have experience, we've seen a lot. This is our third time we'll be playing this team: preseason, regular season and postseason. There is some familiarity with them. Everyone should be excited and ready to go out there and play our best game."
In that Week 9 matchup with New York, Brady was picked off twice and fumbled away another. His three turnovers led to 10 points for the Giants, and his late-game heroics that put New England up 20-17 with just over a minute and a half left were not enough for a struggling Pats defense.
Brady was also sacked twice and pressured most of the afternoon by the vaunting New York pass-rush. It was the Giants pass-rush that made Brady miserable four years ago in Arizona, and he isn't expecting their ferocity on defense to change much in Indy.
Patriot Practice: Gronk DNP, 12 Limited
"They can rush the passer, there's no doubt about that. In playing them before, you understand that they can – they stripped sacked us on our own 10-yard line or something like that when we played them last. They get a lot of turnovers. They put a lot of pressure on you with their front four. They have a big, physical group that plays really well together," said Brady. "Every time we play them, it's, you talk about their defense, their pass rush. It's going to be a good game –we have our work cut out for us."
And while Brady is worried about the Giants defense, the Patriots defense will have to worry about Eli Manning, who Brady spoke very fondly of on Thursday.
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"He's a great quarterback. He's been a first pick in the draft. I've always watched him. He does everything you're looking for as a quarterback," said Brady. "I've seen it firsthand what he can do in the fourth quarter of these games. He's done a great job bringing his team back. He's a great leader. You always hear that coming out of New York, the guys really have a lot of respect for him and so do I."
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