In trying to return from a devastating knee injury to his place as the league’s elite quarterback, Brady’s been maniacal. The aftereffects of the injury can be seen here and there. A slow gait during practice-ending sprints. A hesitation when stepping into a few preseason throws. But he didn’t miss a single practice during New England’s grueling training camp. That, on a team where veterans routinely are given a practice off during double sessions.

The same way Belichick credits Brady for making the coaches better, Brady flips the praise at Belichick.

“He holds us accountable,” Brady stresses. “Every day, you’ve got to bring it. You can’t say, ‘Aww it’s Wednesday, let’s go out here and just get through the day. That’s not me. That’s not this team, so I hope as a leader, as a quarterback, I can push everybody and I want to follow Coach Belichick’s lead. When I’m out there playing quarterback, there’s no plays off or days off. We’re trying to make improvements, we’re trying to get better and you can’t do that by not going full speed or not making the right calls or making the right decisions. Whether it’s a meeting room or the practice field, I’m trying to get the best out of everybody, which in turn gets the best out of me.”

There is no doubt that the season off has rekindled a fire in Brady. By the end of 2007, the scrutiny and controversy that dogged New England wore on the entire team. The break Brady got — while not welcome — did have an impact.

“An injury like that allows you to step back and maybe appreciate it more,” says Koppen, one of Brady’s closest friends. “Sitting on the sidelines is not fun. Maybe a greater appreciation is there but I don’t think that Tom’s drive is different between now and before. He’s had a year to sit back and build up that hunger. It was strong before. It’s even stronger now.”

New England’s always able to adjust
Brady often talks about adjustments, improvements. There’s a constant tweaking that goes on, a recalibration with receivers on their routes, with the offensive line and its protections.

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It’s one of the aspects of the game that captures him: the fact it’s always changing, challenging and making a team reinvent.

“Two years ago, we were a great passing offense,” Brady says. “We were a passing team and we had great success. But in ’01, ’03 and ’04 we won a lot of frigging games not doing it that way, but by playing great situational football, by being able to execute when we had injuries. We have to adjust all the time to whatever we’re faced with.”

The adjustment this year is developing the counterpunch to the pressure that’s coming.

“Defensive linemen are just going to start coming after Tom and figure, ‘Maybe we’ll stop the run on the way to him but we’re going to do some fire-zone blitzing like the Giants did,” Kirwan says. “I think Bill Belichick is really smart and he will have something to counter it. Maybe it will be more protection with the tight end. Maybe it’s more of a commitment to the run. Maybe it’s more six and seven-man protections. Bill said to me in the offseason, ‘We’re taking a long look at what teams will do.

“I know this, if you love football and you love the Xs and Os and think of it all as a chess match, Bill Belichick is the best in the league at working with his king,” says Kirwan. “What did he learn in 2007 that he didn’t get to show in 2008? That, to me, is the big story of this football season.”

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