New York: New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady deflected questions about his injured right hand on Friday, leaving his status in doubt for Sunday’s NFL showdown with Jacksonville for a Super Bowl berth.
Two days after suffering the injury to his throwing hand when someone accidentally ran into him during a workout, Brady and Patriots coach Bill Belichick were tight-lipped about whether Brady will play and how able he would be to throw.
“We’ll see,” Brady said.
Asked about how his hand is feeling or if he tossed any footballs on Friday, Brady answered, “I’m not talking about that.”
The five-time Super Bowl champion gave the same response when pressed for details on how he was injured, and the 40-year-old superstar was vague when asked if he had played in more pain than he was now feeling.
“I’ve played in a lot of games with pain,” Brady said.
Brady was limited in Wednesday’s workout after being hurt and only warmed up in red gloves Thursday before skipping the practice session. He also wore gloves to Friday’s news conference.
Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler said Brady had looked good in practice and predicted he would play on Sunday, saying: “Tom is a big boy. He’ll be there.”
Belichick refused to speculate on Brady’s injury, saying little more than that the Patriots were “getting ready for Jacksonville.”
Asked about his level of concern for Brady’s ability to play at peak levels in Sunday’s home play-off game, Belichick said, “I don’t know. We’ll see.”
Asked how the uncertainty over Brady’s injury has complicated planning for the game, master planner Belichick replied, “I don’t know.”
Asked if Brady’s status might not be determined until game time, Belichick only said, “Today is Friday.”
One person who is certain Brady will play and at full efficiency is Jaguars defensive tackle Malik Jackson, who noted how Buffalo’s top rusher was supposed to be hurt before an earlier playoff contest but appeared fine in the game.
“LeSean McCoy said he had a high ankle sprain and came out there cutting and stuff,” Jackson said.
And Jackson looks for Brady rather than back-up Brian Hoyer to be the target of Jacksonville defenders’ sack attack.
“We have to go rush the quarterback,” Jackson said. “We have to make sure that we create pressure, have to rally and tackle and just frustrate him. He’s 40, so we can hit him.”
Reports of a rift between Belichick, Brady and owner Robert Kraft, who reportedly pushed a trade of long-time Patriots backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo against Belichick’s wishes, have been denied by all three.
Asked if he had regrets about trading away Garoppolo, who won all five of his late-season starts for San Francisco, Belichick repeated only that “we’re getting ready for Jacksonville.”
