FOXBORO, Mass. — Tom Brady doesn’t usually wear his protective knee brace during practice. After last week’s injury scare, owner Robert Kraft helped change the quarterback’s mind on that issue.
Brady gave the Patriots’ faithful, including Kraft, a good scare last Wednesday when he went to the ground, clutching his knee, during practice. Everything turned out to be just fine, with Brady even playing a couple series against the Buccaneers in Friday’s preseason game, but that doesn’t mean the Patriots won’t be a little more cautious with their star quarterback. And that means wearing his gameday brace during practice, too.
“I just have never really worn it for practice,” Brady said coming off the practice field on Monday. “I had it today, so everyone was very pleased.”
Brady was wearing the thick black brace on his left knee during practice on Monday, which is a bit unusual for him. He has worn the bulky knee brace during games since tearing his ACL in Week 1 of the 2008 season, but rarely does he strap it up for practice. He’s sported the full brace at practice in the past, including last Thursday, but typically he only wears a protective sleeve on his left leg out there. Some urging from Kraft after the injury scare, though, should have Brady wearing the burly knee support in practice a lot more often.
“Mr. Kraft felt pretty strongly about me wearing it,” Brady said. “He said, ‘what’s the problem?’ I said, ‘I’ll wear it. I’ll wear it.’ Sometimes when you wear the brace a lot then you get used to wearing the brace.”
Brady better get used to wearing that brace, too. Well, at least for as long as Kraft is the one signing his checks.
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