Tom Brady On Body's Response To Injury: 'We'll See'
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Tom Brady doesn't share much information about any injuries and ailments he deals with. That's been his standard operating procedure for his entire career, thus mirroring the strategy of his head coach and -- accordingly -- the entire organization.
It was somewhat telling, then, when the quarterback opened up a bit about how difficult it was for him to physically get through the past week.
"Um ... I'm happy the week's over. That was a long week," Brady said when asked about the difficulties of working through his knee injury. "I think everybody's battling through different things and you just do the best you can do. It's a long season, and every week starts fresh again. And, you know, I'm glad it's over. And I'm glad we won."
Brady performed reasonably well in the game, completing 60 percent of his 50 passes for 286 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He was particularly on point in the Patriots' final two drives, going 10-for-15 for 132 yards in a touchdown in leading the comeback 22-17 victory.
But throughout the game, Brady was noticeably inaccurate, overthrowing receivers on several occasions, thus leading to speculation that the knee injury that kept him out of practice twice this week was affecting his ability to throw the football.
Given the admitted difficulty of getting through the week for an injury suffered two weeks ago, it stood to reason that a quarterback of Brady's stature might consider sitting out a game -- sacrificing in the short term in order to be in better position to succeed for the postseason. So, Brady was ever asked if he has ever considered missing a game in order to preserve his long-term health.
"Nope," he replied. "Nope. No."
That was Brady's answer on the podium, but his answer to ESPN's Sal Paolantonio when asked how his knee held up through the course of the game. Brady's response indicated there was some uncertainty with how the next day or two may progress.
"We'll see," he said. "We'll see. I think a lot of guys played through a lot of tough things, and certainly that's part of this game. You just do the best you can do. Every week, you try to go out and you try to lay it out on the field for your teammates. And I know they lay it out on the field for me, so that's the least I can do for them."
Obviously, Brady is not completely spilling his guts with regard to the injury. He's not detailing every last piece of information for all the world to know. But his willingness to even admit that it's been difficult to play through these injuries is noteworthy in itself. He played the 2009 season with broken ribs and a broken finger in his throwing hand, and nobody outside the organization was wise to it until after the season.
The Boston Herald's Jeff Howe provided some detail on Brady's current injury on Sunday, noting that what started as a quad injury spread to his knee, leading to Brady requiring "round-the-clock treatment" for two weeks.
In some ways, Brady's newfound openness does make sense, in that this is uncharted territory. He's never been 39 years old before, and the struggle that comes with being older while recovering from an injury is largely new to him. For all of Brady's efforts to focus on muscle pliability and elasticity, a flying helmet to the thigh is always going to be a flying helmet to the thigh. And the recovery process has been, clearly, less than ideal for Brady. Add in a cross-country trip to San Francisco as well as the family obligations that go with it, and factor in the unique schedule of Thanksgiving week, and it's understandable that a 39-year old pro athlete has endured a somewhat challenging two-week stretch.
We know that at some point this summer, he accepted the fact that he'd have to sit out for four games for a violation which he claims never happened. But he probably didn't spend any time considering the possibility of playing any fewer than 12 regular-season games en route to a playoff run for New England.
And we now know that he was able to receive the treatment required to have the strength and mobility to play an NFL game this week. We don't know how that process will go in the coming days.
Like Brady, we'll have to wait and see.
You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
