FOXBORO, Mass. — Tom Brady’s intention was to not sound arrogant about his strong play Sunday in the New England Patriots’ AFC Championship Game win. The quarterback was set up to fail.
Brady was asked by a reporter if the injury to his throwing hand suffered this week in practice affected his play Sunday in the Patriots’ 24-20 comeback win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Brady went 26-of-38 for 290 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions and led the Patriots on a 10-point fourth-quarter comeback win to advance to Super Bowl LII.
The Patriots trailed 14-3 in the second quarter and 20-10 until midway through the fourth. He then threw two touchdown passes to Danny Amendola in the span of eight minutes and 44 seconds at the end of the game to lead the Patriots to victory.
So, yeah, it might sound a little pompous if Brady said the wrap he wore on his hand hurt his play.
“I’d rather not wear it, but I think it sounds kind of arrogant to say, ‘Oh yeah, it bothered me.’ We had a pretty good game,” Brady said.
“That sounds kind of arrogant, doesn’t it? If Tiger Woods said like, ‘That was my C-game and won the tournament?'”
Good point, Tom.
Brady said he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to play as of Wednesday when he suffered the sliced hand on a handoff to running back Rex Burkhead.
“I wasn’t sure on Wednesday. I thought, of all the plays, my season can’t end on a handoff in a practice. I didn’t come this far for it to end on a handoff. It’s one of those things. I came into the training room, and I was just looking at my hand, and I wasn’t quite sure what happened. Everyone did a great job getting me ready — the training staff and doctors and Alex (Guerrero).”
How many stitches Brady received on his right hand varies upon which reporter you listen to. The early reports said he needed three or four stitches, and now that number is up to 10 or 12.
No matter how many stitches it was, it did not appear the cut hampered Brady’s play on the field.
