Tom Brady On Recovering From Injury: 'I'm A Fast Healer'
BOSTON (CBS) -- Tom Brady may be 39 years old and one of the toughest players in the National Football League, but he's not indestructible. The Patriots are learning that the hard way as the quarterback battles through a leg injury suffered in Week 10 against the Seattle Seahawks.
Brady finished 30-for-50 against the New York Jets on Sunday with 286 yards, two touchdowns, and an 89.2 passer rating - overall, a subpar effort by his standards. But the injury could not slow down Brady enough, as he ultimately led the Patriots' game-winning drive that ended with a Malcolm Mitchell touchdown.
Brady told Jim Gray of Westwood One Radio on Monday that he's expecting his injury to get better before it gets worse.
"I expect it to heal. I'm a pretty fast healer. I hope I don't have to deal with it much longer," said Brady, who added, "I might be the fastest 39-year-old healer you know."
Earlier in the interview, Brady admitted that he, like the Patriots organization, likes to keep injury news to a minimum. He also doesn't like to make excuses when he's not playing at his best.
"Look, as a player, I don't really want to expose how badly I'm injured, or what's injured, to the upcoming opponent," said Brady. "I try to keep them under wraps as much as possible. The reality is, no one's feeling great this time of year. Everybody's played a lot of football ... It's just the nature of the sport. The key is to feel the best you possibly can on game day so you can go out there and try to perform at your best."
Brady was listed with a knee injury on the practice reports leading up to Sunday's win over the Jets. The Boston Herald's Jeff Howe tweeted on Sunday that the injury was initially to his quad but the swelling moved to the knee, and that Brady has required "round-the-clock treatment" to manage the injury.
At one point in the call, Brady's son Benjamin hopped on the phone to speak with Gray and said his dad is "more hurt" after the Jets game, but there's no reason to believe as of right now that the injury has gotten any worse.
It doesn't sound like Brady's ailment will come close to keeping him out of the Patriots lineup moving forward, but even Brady himself sounds unsure of how the injury will heal in the coming weeks.