Ian Rapoport notes Tom Brady received the MVP Award by unanimous selection, but knows that he couldn't win it without a team effort.
"It’s really contradictory to the way I try to play quarterback," Brady said. "It’s about the team. And if you’re going to experience success, you(’ve) got to rely on every single guy, and you win with those guys and you lose with those guys. And coach (Bill Belichick) said it best. We had a great regular season, the best of any team in the league. We just didn’t have the best postseason."
Brady said the work has already begun on improving. "There’s a lot of things we can do better," Brady said. "We’ve already started the evaluation of our offense and I think part of the reason we scored as many points as we did is we got a lot of turnovers and we didn’t turn the ball over much. We set a record for that, which is a pretty cool record as a team. We play in New England. We play in snow, we play in wind, we play in rain. So the guys that are possessing the football did a great job taking care of it. That was a great reason why we had a great record."
"It’s a great award," Brady said, "but playing in the Super Bowl is the greatest award that any quarterback could be doing this time of year."
Ian Rapoport reports Robert Kraft is already looking forward to the Draft.
"We’re privileged this year to have five of the first 75 picks, which has not happened in 20 years," Kraft said last week outside the ballroom of the downtown Dallas Sheraton Hotel. "If you take ’09, ’10 and this year, we will have had 12 picks in the first and second round. If we choose wisely this year, we have a chance to really build a balanced team that could allow us to have a lot of fun in the coming years."
WEEI reports Leigh Bodden is confident he will recover.
"I have the most confidence in the world; I’m going to have my best season next year," Bodden told reporters of his recovery. "I’m rehabbing it good, I’m lifting on it. It’s been five months. … "If I was playing in the Super Bowl and had to play, I would play … I feel great. It’s strong. I’ve been lifting on it, not too much heavy weights, but the stability is good."
TEAM TALK
- The Associated Press named Tom Brady the NFL's Most Valuable Player for the 2010 season.
- NFL Network: Tom Brady sits down with Michael Lombardi to discuss his MVP award winning season. (2.35 min. video)
- NFL Network: Patriots Chairman & CEO Robert Kraft is confident the players and owners can come to a CBA agreement in the coming weeks. (1.01 min. video)
- Patriots Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft gives an interview on WEEI's 'The Big Show' on Friday, February 4, 2011. (34.20 min. audio)
- NFL Network: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell addresses the media at the Super Bowl on the state of the National Football League. (11.01 min. video)
- New England Patriots Charitable Foundation invites you to join the 2011 New England Patriots Marathon Team.
LOCAL LINKS
- Christopher Price writes about Tom Brady being very humbled as the unanimous winner of the NFL MVP.
- Tom E. Curran points to the Patriots game against Pittsburgh as the specific moment that made 2010 go from a normal "Tom Brady year" to one for the record books.
- Shalise Manza Young says it's not the trophy Tom Brady was looking for but yesterday the Patriots QB was named NFL's most valuable player for a second time.
- Christopher Price reports Devin McCourty finished second in NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year voting to Ndamukong Suh.
- Ian Rapoport writes about the Green Bay Packers' win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl.
- Bob Ryan recaps Super Bowl XLV, in a victory that confirmed a great deal of conventional wisdom. Turnovers and defense still matter.
- Christopher Price tells us ten things we learned last night, including Aaron Rodgers separated himself from Brett Favre's shadow and is now the quarterback.
- Tom E. Curran gives us five thoughts from Super Bowl XLV.
- Ron Borges says you cannot win a Super Bowl committing three turnovers, and Green Bay triumphed despite five critical dropped passes.
- Mike Reiss offers a few final thoughts following the last game of the season, with a Patriots twist.
- Bob Ryan says it's truly amazing how far the Super Bowl, and this sport, has come.
- Kirk Minihane shares his Super Bowl diary: Rodgers makes the jump, Big Ben fails and A-Rod hits rock bottom.
- Tom E. Curran notes that what makes Ben Roethlisberger unique does not make him an all-time great quarterback. He proved it in Super Bowl XLV.
- Ian Rapoport reports Ron Brace is "doing real good" after getting knocked out of the late-season win over Buffalo with a torn elbow ligament.
- Ian Rapoport Super Bowl Notebook: Ben Roethlisberger came up short on the final drive and didn't join Tom Brady with three rings last night; Four hundred fans who arrived at Cowboys Stadium with tickets were told their seats would not be available and they had to watch on monitors; Green Bay won despite injuries to Charles Woodson and Donald Driver that knocked them out of the game; Steelers LB James Harrison wasn't so ferocious last night; Unknown GB receiver Jordy Nelson had nine catches for 140 yards.
- Tom E. Curran asserts Roger Goodell and the NFL's owners undercut themselves on the 18-game season by using pretzel logic .
- Alex Speier notes Patriots owner Robert Kraft is tired of the whole Belichick/Goodell subject.
- Tom E. Curran notes Robert Kraft says lawyers need to step aside and that a work stoppage would be "criminal".
NATIONAL NEWS
- Tim Graham (ESPN) AFC East observations on the Super Bowl: Ben Roethlisberger is not in Tom Brady's league yet.
- Peter King (SI) MMQB: Lombardi Trophy goes long way to ease the pain for Packers' Woodson.
- Dom Bonvissuto (SI) Season of redemption falls short of Super Bowl ring for Roethlisberger.
- Vic Carucci (NFL.com) For a change, Steelers fall short in the face of adversity.
- Tim Graham (ESPN) Tom Brady first unanimous MVP.
- Tim Graham (ESPN) No hardware, but AFC East rookies solid.