Q: Is there a player that has surprised you so far?
BB: No. There's nobody I would single out on that. I think as a whole, the team's in pretty good condition. They're working hard. We're getting better and we have a long way to go. I don't think anybody's where they need to be yet, but I think we're heading in the right direction. [We're] certainly gaining ground from where we were 10 days ago. That's good, but we've got a long way to go.
Q: It looked like the players got a kick out of switching sides there at the end – the offense playing defense and the defense playing offense. Is that something you've done before?
BB: We had a little challenge on that so we let the two units compete there at the end. It looked like they had a lot of fun doing it. [There was] a little confusion, but that's alright.
Q: Did you discover any new receivers or running backs?
BB: You know, I'll have to look at the film on that one. Some controversial calls there, too, but I think the play-calling is in better hands than it was there at the end of practice. I'll put it that way.
Q: So Tom Brady shouldn't be concerned about his job?
BB: I think he'll be alright.
Q: I noticed that Derrick Burgess had to take a lap alone during practice. What was that?
BB: Yeah, we have certain things that we do in practice that …
Q: A little hazing?
BB: No, no. Just certain things that come of certain other things. Certain plays have certain consequences. Everybody does it.
Q: Do you take it as a source of pride that players see New England as a destination they'd really like to come to?
BB: Well, every situation is a little bit different. But it's certainly nice when you talk to players or a player or a certain player and they are interested in your team and your program. I don't want to say this is about recruiting, but some of it is about recruiting or situations or opportunity – and certainly the contract plays into that – but there are other things that play into it, too. I think that we have a lot of things going for us here and – overall – I think we're pretty competitive for players in the open market with our facilities, and the team, and maybe the perception of the team. I don't think that's a bad thing, and I don't think that's across the board. But I think when it happens, it's good. It's good to be at least competitive in those situations. At least you feel like you have a chance. I've been on the other side of it too, where there's really not much you can say to get them interested, and that's … there's not much you can say. You pretty much lose them.
Q: Have you decided how much Tom Brady will play in the first preseason game?
BB: No, we haven't even talked about play time or how we're going to do that yet. That's probably something we'll do here in a couple of days, Tuesday, Wednesday. Right now, everybody is preparing to play and everybody is going to go through the preparations and all of that. How we actually break it up, we'll talk about all of that a little bit later. We know who is available for the game and there are a lot of things that could change in the next few games. So we'll wait until we get as much information in as we can and then start putting that together. Right now, that's not really a big [focus]. In the next 48 hours, I'd say that's not really a big focus for us as a coaching staff.
Q: Can you talk about the jump Jonathan Wilhite has made since last year?
BB: Jonathan [Wilhite], I thought, made a lot of strides last year from the beginning of the year to the end of the year and then he followed that up with a real strong offseason, offseason program, and spring camps and got off to a good start here in training camp. Jonathan has really worked hard. He's become a very dependable player for young guy. He's smart. He's quiet, but he definitely understands not only what we're doing, but concepts and offenses and how they play. He's a versatile kid. He plays in the kicking game, can play outside, can play inside on the corner, can throw. So he's got a good variety of skills and that's always valuable when you can do different things with the same player. That helps him match up against different receivers, some fast receivers, some quick receivers, different guys that can run after the catch – he's a good tackler. I think he does a lot of things well and he's gotten better. It seems like every time he walks out on the field, it's been very, very steady.
Q: Did you watch the Hall of Fame ceremonies? Any anecdotes about Rod Woodson since you went up against him consistently?
BB: Without much success. No, I didn't get a chance to see them.
Q: Was there ever a week where you said: ‘OK, we're not throwing to Rod's side of the field'?
BB: Just about every time we played them we said that, yeah. And when he played safety, you better be real careful on those in-cuts because he was sniffing those out. He'd come out of the middle of the field and dive down on those in-cuts and seam routes. [He was a] great player, excellent returner. He was definitely … They had a lot of guys you wanted to stay away from. He was at the top of the list. But then some of the other guys you went in to, that was no picnic either. He was a heck of a football player, both defensively and in the return game. And when he intercepted them – I don't know how many he returned, but he returned a few for touchdowns – so he was dangerous with the ball in his hands, like Ed Reed is or somebody like that, where not only do they intercept it, but then they score on top of that. [He was a] big guy, strong, good run force player. He was pretty good.
Q: What about Derrick Thomas? Did you ever have a tackle come to you and say, ‘What am I going to do with this guy?'
BB: You know, we played Derrick when I was at Cleveland, we played Derrick and I think he's probably one of the fastest pass-rushers to ever play. He had tremendous edge speed and certainly the field worked to his benefit down there in Kansas City, playing on turf. The crowd noise, he was great with that, too. Back in the day, when the defensive guys could simulate and they were going to flinch and do all those things and create a lot of false starts on offense and tackles laid off the ball and all of that. But if he got half a step on a guy, he was home. When we played him in ClevelandStadium, it was my first year there, I think '91, and the field was real damp. I don't know what happened, but it was a real damp field and he had a little trouble coming around the corner in that game. Must have been the moisture coming in off the lake, but it was real damp and wet. I think the grounds crew wasn't able to cut the grass. He was a great speed-rusher though, as opposed to Bruce [Smith], who could also get the edge, but he was much more, obviously, bigger, physical, worked inside better. But Derrick was a great speed-rusher. Definitely a guy you had to game plan for, kind of like the Jason Taylors and Dwight Freeneys of today.
Q: At this point, how do you compare Ron Brace to Vince Wilfork?
BB: Vince is way, way, way ahead of him. [He's] been playing a long time. I mean, Vince is as good a player at his position as there is in the league, a very experienced, versatile guy. Ron has never played a down in the National Football League; he's been out practicing for a week. He's not going to be able to make up that kind of ground against Vince Wilfork in one week of practice. There's just no way. So there's a pretty big gap there.
Q: Are you going to turn off the film for 30 minutes tonight and evaluate TomBrady's acting on 'Entourage
'?
BB: Oh, is he on 'Entourage
'? I've never seen that so I'll wait to read the reviews on that tomorrow. You guys can do the reviews and I'll check it out there.
