Patriots Blog: Brady 'Desensitized' To Cuts
BOSTON (CBS) - Today was the first "Tom Brady Wednesday" of the regular season, and as usual, #12 didn't disappoint.
The Patriots quarterback had his usual middle-of-the-week chat with the media, and touched on quite a bit. After all that "are you excited stuff" was out-of-the-way, reporters wanted to know how Tom felt about his team heading into the regular season - especially with all the new parts on offense.
"There's turnover every year on our team, on every team. Coaches, players, staff and so forth. I don't think about it too much," he said. "I thing I've learned at a young age is that you worry about what you can control, and certainly playing quarterback and my attitude is what I think about on a daily basis."
But the biggest question came about Deion Branch. The former Pats wide receiver was a favorite of Brady's, but was cut last Friday. Brady understands it's part of the business, but it's always hard to get used to.
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"I think in some ways you become a bit desensitized to it. It's not my decision, so I can't really think about it too much other than support your friends and what they're going through," he said.
Brady can provide a little feedback, but when it's all said and done, it's Bill Belichick's call on who sticks around, and who does not. And Brady knows this.
"It's not like I can go in and lobby for guys. What decisions have been are what coach always feels are in the best interest of the team. You just try to go out there and worry about your job, and we had practice that day, so we went out and practiced, and you try to have a good practice, regardless of who is out there, because if you don't, then you're really doing a disservice to yourself, your teammates and the franchise. You've got to try to go out, compartmentalize things, and go out there and have good practices and hope to be prepared for the game."
And while he doesn't have Branch, Brady is still very confident in this team. That includes the offensive line, which had a rough go of things in the preseason.
"Whoever is out there is out there and whoever's out there has earned that position. They've done what the coaches have asked them to do and there's a lot of confidence that they'll be able to do their job," said Brady. "My focus is on quarterback and I've got enough to worry about as it. It's not like I figured everything out the past four weeks either, so I've got to go out there and try to do what my role is and that's play quarterback. I let those guys really do what they do and they do a damn good job of doing that and playing offensive line."
Practice Roundup
Despite all the rain, there was no lightning down at the stadium, so the Patriots practiced outside today. Running back Shane Vereen was not seen on the practice field.
Guard/center Nick McDonald was on the field but he did not take part in any contact drills, in fact he was wearing just a t-shirt and shorts. The Patriots had a full pads practice. Patrick Chung has thrown away the red jersey and he's wearing the regular blue.
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Newly signed tight end Michael Hoomanawanui was on the field. He was wearing number 47.
Practice Squad Update
The Patriots practice squad has changed about 100 times since they put it together this weekend. Players have been put on, then released and then brought back.
Here's what the current practice squad looks like:
WR Kerry Taylor
FB James Develin
TE Alex Silvestro
T Matt Kopa
G/C Thomas Austin
G Jeremiah Warren
LB Jeff Tarpinian
CB Malcolm Williams
This could change within the hour, and likely will about 100 more times throughout the season.
Follow Levan Reid on CBSBostonsports.com and on Twitter @LevanReid all Patriots' season long!
