The scariest play of Sunday’s Patriots game came in the third quarter (photo at right), when Chargers defensive lineman Antonio Garay launched himself into the back of Tom Brady’s surgically repaired left leg.
Brady, who escaped unscathed, on Monday morning credited the brace he was wearing on the knee for protecting him from a potentially devastating injury.
“I’m glad I had a knee brace on,” Brady said in his weekly appearance on Boston sports radio station WEEI. “Those are scary when you’ve been through those ones before. He got me in a good spot and I’m glad the knee brace took the brunt of the force. Why I never wore a knee brace before (his season-ending ACL injury in 2008) I have no idea and why every quarterback doesn’t wear one on their left knee I have no idea. It’s just so unprotected.”
During the interview, Brady again defended teammate Chad Ochocinco, who came under fire earlier this week from ESPN Boston analyst Tedy Bruschi and others for his tweet about being impressed by the Patriots’ Week 1 offensive explosion.
“I love Tedy, he’s one of my great friends. But honestly, none of those guys have any clue what they’re talking about,” Brady said. “They’re outside of the locker room. They don’t know what we’re trying to accomplish ... they don’t know. Everybody can think what they want to think and say what they want to say ... the only people that it really matters to are the guys that are inside the locker room. We support each other because we rely on each other. Every single player that’s on the team is counted on to help us win.”
Brady made headlines earlier in the week when he encouraged fans to “start drinking early” for Sunday’s game, that the 4:15 start gave them a lot of time to “get lubed up and cheer for the home team.” His comments were clarified by the Patriots, but the quarterback said Monday he made a poor choice of words.
“I hope there was nobody that was drinking irresponsibly,” Brady said. “I tried to make a very subtle joke, but for a guy who doesn’t drink, it gets a lot of attention. I think that I won’t joke like that anymore. That wasn’t the best thing for me to say and I won’t ever say that again.
Click HERE to listen to Brady’s full interview.