There’s no question New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady loves the cold football weather of New England. But, he is a California kid -- born in San Mateo -- so he has to be enjoying the warm weather of San Diego with the team practicing there this week in preparation for Sunday night’s game against the Chargers, right?
“Truthfully guys, it’s a game week,” Brady said in his weekly interview Tuesday morning on Boston sports radio station WEEI. “I don’t have a lot of time during a game week to do much, especially with yesterday as a normal Monday, and there’s a lot of work to be done on a Monday. Tuesday, I have a little more time. But Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are just like a normal week. So there is really no time for anything.
“It’s not like it’s February, March or April when you have a lot [of time]. I just plan on getting the work done and resting up and trying to play a great game this week. That’s what I need to do. That’s what the team needs from me. So that’s kind of my focus.”
Brady expects no differences between holding practices in San Diego versus practicing on the fields outside Gillette Stadium.
“It depends on how focused you are,” Brady said. “And I think coach [Bill Belichick] always does a good job of no matter where we are at kickoff to have us ready to go.
“It will be an intense week of practice, especially coming off a loss. We have very high expectations for this week, so we have a lot of veteran leadership and the guys really need to start stepping up and playing our best football this time of year. That’s what we will need.”
Brady, who hasn’t been away from his family and children in a quite a while, pointed out that there is an opportunity to focus solely on football for the week.
“In some ways, it will be more intense than normal because you don’t have any family or friends around,” Brady said. “You can just focus on football, get your treatment and get ready to play.”
As for spending time on things other than football? Brady says that’s for the younger guys. Tight end Rob Gronkowski, running backs Jonas Gray and Shane Vereen and a few other Patriots players drove up the coast to Los Angeles Monday and were seen with Justin Bieber at a Clippers game.
“I’m not doing anything like that. That time has come and gone in my life,” Brady said. “I did a lot of Charger work last night, sleeping. This is my first time away from my kids in a while, so I finally get some decent sleep.
“Those guys should go out and have fun. It’s a Monday night. It’s an off day for the players today, so that’s time for them to do some fun things.
“Honestly, it’s probably fun for them to enjoy. There is a camaraderie about being with your teammates outside of the football building, and it’s good for those guys to do those sorts of things.”