In the extended cut (about 7 minutes) of Tom Brady's conversation with "Monday Night Football" announcer Mike Tirico (a shorter version was posted here last night), the Patriots quarterback reflects on being the last man standing from the 2001 Super Bowl championship team, talks about why he gets along so well with Bill Belichick ("He loves to coach and I love to play") and admits he still eats up the work that goes into preparing and game-planning for each week's opponent.

Here is part of the Q-and-A:

What's it like to have a baby girl after two boys?

"I'm in trouble [laughing]. I grew up in a house with three sisters. I think it's great for my boys to have a girl in the house, just to understand at least a little bit about what makes a woman tick -- not that I can certainly figure that out, because I can't. She's a beautiful little girl."

How much enjoyment are you getting as 'Tom the dad'?

"That's kind of what my life has become. I love playing football. I love coming to work every day. But also, being at home, and giving those boys my attention, and my affection, and my discipline, and being a good parent is so important, because I grew up with two of the best parents a son could ever ask for."

What challenge does the Texans' defense, and J.J. Watt in particular, present?

"He's an incredible player. When you look at what he's able to do on the field in terms of rushing the passer, playing the run, tackles for loss, passes defensed, it's pretty unbelievable for him to be able to have that kind of an impact on the game. He's done it every week, it's no fluke. He's done it since he came into the league [in 2011]. It's not like you can really devise schemes to stop an interior pass-rusher, but we just have to make sure we hold up the best we can, and get the ball out. We can't be standing back there all day looking for things down the field."

Andre Johnson said this was the biggest game in Texans history, and they played a playoff game last year. The Patriots play these games once, twice, three times a winter. What does it do for you to have another big opponent coming in for another big test?

"'Monday Night Football' does that too, so you kind of put both those things together -- playing at home, on Monday night, in Foxborough, in December, is always an important, huge game for us. Playing the Texans, who are 11-1 and have really earned that record over the course of a long season, it's going to be a great test for our team. I'm excited to see what we're capable of. We've done some pretty good things the last six weeks, but we need to continue to do them."