TAMPA -- Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who didn't play and wasn't on the sidelines in Monday's preseason game against the Eagles, was raring to go as the team held the first of two joint practices with the Buccaneers on Wednesday.
"I don't think it's a vacation or a nice trip to Florida. This is for us to come down here and be a better football team when we leave," he said after the 2 hour, 45 minute practice. "There are no activities planned. We have work to do this afternoon and tonight. We’re going to wake up tomorrow and come practice and then work tomorrow night and get ready to play the game."
Brady didn't want to talk about his whereabouts during Monday night's game against the Eagles, saying it was personal when asked by Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald, but he was more expansive when asked about the benefits of the joint practices.
"It's different schemes that you're seeing and you want to see how your plays adjust to some different things. I think that's what we're trying to figure out," Brady said of the early trip in advance of Friday's preseason game. "Some of the things that we've been working on that we’ve had a chance to see against our own defense, we’ll get a chance to see them against another defense, which is always good for us and [helps] develop some confidence in some plays and some situations."
Brady said it was a heavy situational practice, with work on third down, red zone, short- and long-yardage situations, and offensive, defensive and special teams work tight to the goal-line, among other things.
Asked if he feels he's getting enough repetitions in practice to mesh with his teammates, Brady expressed confidence that he'd be ready for the Sept. 9 season-opener at Tennessee.
"We’ll see when we kick off, but the goal is to be ready and prepared when we need to be. Coach Belichick has been through this quite a bit and so have I, so I’m sure when the time comes to play, we’ll be as prepared as we can possibly be," he said. "... I think part of what our team has always been built on is guys having trust in each other to do what they need to do to be competitive and that’s what we’re trying to do out here in practice."