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Steve Grogan: Good morning. Steve Grogan here, in case you don't know. The girl at the reception desk didn't, so I just wanted…It's my pleasure to be here this morning to present Tom Brady with the NFL Miller Lite Player of the Week award. Each team nominates a player and they are chosen by a national panel and this week, you guys know all the numbers, but Tom just had a great game, four touchdown passes. And not only this week, but lately has been doing the things it takes to win and that's the number one stat that counts. So Tom, congratulations on this award and I hope you get a couple more before the end of the year.
TB: Thanks Steve, I appreciate it. This is always something nice, but to receive this from Mr. Grogan certainly is a nice honor.
SG: I'm old enough, no Mr.'s.
TB: We are following in some great footsteps, so thank you. Thanks for coming
SG: You're welcome.
TB: This is certainly a team award, as it always is. This goes to the whole offense this last week. It was a good week for all of us. Hopefully we can keep it rolling.
Q: It was a good performance, but now another challenge awaits in hostile territory. Does this team do a good job of staying focused and keeping an even keel as the year goes along?
TB: Yeah, I think all the work we put in for the last eight months really comes down to these next five games. There's no doubt that this is the biggest game of the year and you know we've played the Jets quite a while ago so now we are trying to get familiar with them again. We know what kind of team they have and the type of defense they are capable of playing. They've been the first-place team in the AFC East so it is going to be a great challenge going down there to play them in their own stadium.
Q: Have you been told about the benefits of playing your best football in December and getting into the playoffs? It is kind of a different feeling and a lot of you guys have never been through it before?
TB: Yeah definitely and you realize that as the season goes on team's have more film to watch, more games to evaluate and we are staring to get comfortable really with the things we do well. Like I said after the game, we are trying to continue to do those things while understanding that they are going to be trying to take some of those things away. In terms of scheming and getting prepared for a Jets defense who has already seen us one time this year, it's a little bit more challenging.
Q: For you personally, has this year felt like a whirlwind? What has it been like to be in your shoes?
TB: As I have always said, it's been a lot busier. It's just been, from one week to another it's just…there is always something. There's always something you've got to get taken care of. You know this is exciting. I'm doing something I love to do and I am with a bunch of friends doing it and we are winning football games. So it's really been an exciting year and hopefully we can make it more exciting these next few weeks.
Q: You couldn't have taken too many snaps before playing the Jets the first time. Is that an advantage or a disadvantage seeing them for the first time rather than seeing them a second time?
TB: Well I think it is the same. You know I've prepared the same way, as I have always said. I think it is a little bit easier preparing from the standpoint that you're familiar with the players, you're familiar with the scheme that they're running. So it's just a…I'd say at this point we are getting to the things that we do best. We know what it takes to win these games and that's the stuff that we are trying to build on. I don't think at this point you are trying to draw up too many plays in the dirt. You are just going with the things that you do best.
Q: What have you seen the Jets doing well defensively?
TB: Obviously the things that jumps out at you is the turnovers. They are 22 I think in the turnover differential and that's…as you are watching them on tape this morning, they are really forcing turnovers. It's not so much…you know sometimes, I saw one play Aaron Brooks had fumbled a snap, but other than that they I mean they are hitting guys and popping the ball out. Their defenders are making plays on the ball in the passing game and getting the ball deflected and really making plays that way. That's really what their game is all about, they're trying to get as many turnovers and keep our offense off the field. So it's got to be a special emphasis, as it always is, but even more so this week, that we've got to take care of the ball.
Q: Have you noticed that guys are happier in the locker room and guys are just pumped to come to work?
TB: Well I think people realize that we are coming down the stretch. This is what it is all about. If you want to play in January you've got to win in December and we are trying to win as many games as you can. When you do that you let everything else shake itself out. For us it is week-to-week as it has been for the last few weeks, but definitely you realize that from the second half of the season we are really making our push. I know Bryan Cox said, at this point in the season no one is real healthy. So everyone is trying to get back and you might not be 100 percent, but all the guys our there are going out there expecting everyone else to rally around each other and play.
Q: Expectations are different than when you jumped into the last game with two minutes left. Do you see the game differently now?
TB: As opposed from the sidelines and now behind center?
Q: From that time when you were thrown in there, to now, do you have a much better idea of what to expect?
TB: I think you have a better idea of what to expect. I mean you understand…each week you get more and more comfortable with the guys you are playing with and you know when you are on the sidelines you're not getting a feel for the timing. You know the plays and you know the defense, but you don't know as much where the errors are coming from in each particular play. You know with the situation earlier in the year, I mean I had a whole training camp full of plays so it wasn't really like I was that far removed from being behind center. So there probably wasn't as big an adjustment as there could have been say something happened later in the season.
Q: I have been reading a lot of stories about you lately and everything from Michigan to here is about controversies, but not a word about you. Is there anything controversial about you? Anything dark or hidden?
TB: Well, you guys got some time. No, I don't think there's…it is kind of what you see is what you get. As I have always said, I focus on being…I take care of all the things I know I can take care of and then you adjust to everything that you can't and you do the best you can. You lay it all on the field and in all the competition that I have faced it's been about myself in a selfish way that I am trying to be the best I can be. And from that I can sleep at night. I don't sit here and worry about how another guy is feeling or how the game's going to go. I just worry about each day.
Q: Did you kind of learn that concept from your time at Michigan?
TB: Yeah.
Q: Things with [Brian] Griese and all that kind of stuff?
TB: Definitely. That was the biggest thing I learned in college and how to grow up and how to mature and how to understand what it takes to be successful. And to be successful for me was preparing myself.
Q: You are playing in front of less people now than you did at Michigan…?
TB: About half as many.
Q: Does the quarterback controversy here feel different? Does it feel bigger? Smaller?
TB: It feels…I mean obviously it's a different level, it's a different level. I think with the respect that everyone has for our quarterback here, you know, Drew [Bledsoe], it's been quite a bit more than I was exposed to in college, but at the same time they're similar aspects of it.
Q: There is a good chance you get Terry [Glenn] back this week, he is listed as Probably on the Injury Report. Do you look forward to his return?
TB: Yeah, of course. I mean Terry is on the roster and everyone's expecting the best out of him and this is when we need the best out of everybody. Everyone knows what Terry is capable of and if Terry is out there he's just another weapon that we are able to use.
Q: What is the best Brady Bunch joke that you have heard?
TB: I try to forget those, those Brady Bunch jokes.
Q: I noticed the headline writers around here have kind of tired of them already?
TB: Thank goodness, so am I.
Q: A lot of people describe you as unflappable. Where does that come from? Have you ever thought about that?
TB: Well I think…it always comes back to the same thing and it's just about just not worrying about other people. And when you have confidence in yourself and you know that's the only thing you've got to take care of, I think there's a reason to feel comfort…and there's…where's everybody going? Geez, am I that boring. God. I was taught in school that you don't get up when your teacher is talking. You guys have heard this?
Q: Has your relationship changed with Drew? Have you seen yourself in a different way and just worrying about performing and not worry about his legend?
TB: Right. I think a lot of the times when you are behind a guy like I was last year and watching him play, I really watched the things that it takes for him to be good. So I think when you are in the same offense you try to model yourself around a lot of things that he'd do and I am always asking him, 'Hey, what do you think on this?' because he's been there and done that. And after nine years of great play he can bring a lot and add a lot to my preparation. So you know, the relationship, we've always had a good relationship and it's continued to be good. He's a great person and with each week I am getting more comfortable with the situation and I know how he feels. We are moving beyond, obviously with last week and we are moving forward from there.
Q: With what he is capable of doing, is it inevitable that he will be a starting quarterback someplace? Obviously you have a job to fight for, but is it inevitable that he will be a starting quarterback in the league somewhere?
TB: I mean I can't answer that, I mean I have no idea…I mean I would certainly think so. I mean he's as good as they come. He's as good as they come. He's as good as there is playing, but like I said those aren't really the type of things I think about.
