With six days off for his bye week, Tom Brady spent some time on a beach with his family, as evidenced by the pictures his wife posted on Instagram.
But the Patriots quarterback said he was never far from the game while away, either.
“I was talking to my wife two days ago and said ‘I just love football.’ When it’s Sunday and everyone else is playing and you’re not, you’re a fish out of water,” Brady said during his weekly radio show on WEEI, via ESPNBoston.com. “You’re watching [and] if I’m not around a TV I’m updating my phone every five minutes to see what’s going on with every score. It’s probably more anxious when you’re not playing because you’re watching games and thinking about the outcomes and watching how teams are doing.
“That’s just the life of a football player. There wasn’t many moments when I wasn’t thinking about the game.”
So while hanging out in the sand with the model-wife and the kids was nice, Brady said he was looking forward to “driving back in, this time of year, to go back to work.”
The Patriots get an extra day to prepare, as they face the suddenly hot Panthers Monday night.
“They went into San Francisco and beat San Fran and we know what kind of team they’re all about,” Brady said. “It’s a tough team, they’re physical, their front seven is as good as anybody – their pass-rusher, their run-stoppers. They have playmakers in the secondary. So it has to be our best game, there is no doubt about it, on ‘Monday Night Football.’ We’ll see what we’re made of.”
While the upcoming game is widely viewed as a measuring stick for the Panthers, who finally beat a good team last week, the fact that Brady’s willing to turn that ruler around is part of the reason they’re so good.