Brady on D&C: 'Tougher than it needed to be'

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady made his weekly appearance on the Dennis & Callahan show Monday morning as part of WEEI's Patriots Monday.

Brady ran off the field at the end of the game without shaking hands, and he was shorter than usual in his postgame press conference. He explained that it was a combination of frustration and weariness.

"I expect a lot out of our team, just like our coaches do and all the players do," he said. "I thought we were capable of playing better than we did yesterday. Even though we won -- yeah, I feel great about that. Believe me, I know how tough it is to win and how much it sucks to lose. And we played a good team yesterday that has been a tough opponent for us and is a tough opponent every single time we play them. But I thought we made it a little tougher than it needed to be."

Asked why he seems more serious in general lately, Brady answered: "There's a lot that goes into every week. There's a lot of intensity that we bring to practice, to the games. And sometimes you're just tired. Sometimes you don't have the energy to put on a happy face every day. It's an important week. We were getting to work. There's a lot of pressure form the time the Oakland game ended. It's a six-hour flight home. You get to bed at 4or 5 in the morning, 6 in the morning, like we did. And then it's a dead sprint until the next game.

"Sometimes you're a little out of gas and you've got to conserve your energy. At the end of yesterday's game, I was tired. I was tired. Look, it's a big opponent. We put a lot into it. There's a lot of emotional energy that's expended. I'm glad we won. I'm glad the week's over. And now we can move on to another opponent that creates and gives us a lot of different challenges also."

Following are more highlights from the interview.

On the Patriots having a more balanced offense Sunday: "The Jets are focused on stopping the pass. A lot of what they do is coverage-related. A lot of it is, yeah, we'll stop the run. And they did a decent job of stopping the run at times yesterday, too. They stopped us for 1-yard gains. It wasn't like it was seven yards a carry out there. There was 1-yard gains. They're a tough, physical front. They have some good linebackers, good, run-stopping linebackers. There's a lot of movement on that defense, too, so you don't always get great angles. They're slippery up there up front.

"We've got to able to run the ball. We've got to be able to stay balanced. We've got to be able to take advantage of whatever we see. I think it gives everybody a lot of comfort in knowing that we are capable of running the ball effectively as we did yesterday."

On if he changed the play call multiple times on the touchdown pass to a wide-open Deion Branch in the third quarter: "We were trying to get aligned the right way and get the right play called. I have options down there. Billy [O'Brien] gives me options every week to try to take advantage of what I see. That was an important play in the game. We could have scored more in the red area. I thought we left a lot of points out there. That was one situation where it was good, but at the same time there were other situations."

On Darrelle Revis guarding Wes Welker: "Revis, he's a good corner. He's got a lot of good skill. He's quick, he's smart, he's got great instincts, he's got very good speed, deceptively good speed. He can pretty much run with anybody. So, he's tough. Wes fought hard to get open. He was very reliable for us as he always is, Wes is. And the other guys made some plays, too. Deion had a bunch of catches, Aaron [Hernandez] had some catches, [Rob Gronkowski] had some catches, Chad [Ochocinco] had some catches. So, all those guys ended up contributing."

On if Welker will be teased for getting caught from behind by Revis on the long pass play at the start of the third quarter: "Hell, yeah, he'll take heat for getting caught. Are you kidding me? That should have been an 80-yard touchdown. Belive me, that will motivate Wes. He'll be out there doing a lot of sprint work, making sure he doesn't get run down again."

For additional highlights from the conversation, visit the It Is What It Is blog [1]. To hear the interview, go to the Dennis & Callahan audio on demand page [2]. For more Patriots news, visit the team page at weei.com/patriots [3].