On the last play of the third quarter, with the Patriots leading 28-7, Tom Brady urged the crowd to raise its cheers a decibel level. After his first down run, he pumped his fist and screamed. His excitement almost caught the crowd off guard -- the game seemed in hand -- but it responded in kind.
After a few seconds of raucous noise, the chants wafted from the Gillette Stadium seats: "M-V-P! M-V-P! . . . "
On Brady's radio interview with Dennis and Callahan on Tuesday morning, he admitted he heard the chants.
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"I heard it. I'm very flattered to even be considered for something like that," Brady said of the MVP award. "Honestly, the most important thing for me is winning games and enjoying it with my teammates. Everything that I do is dependent on them, on the group of guys that I play with, and the successful years we've had with our team has been all about team football. That's what our team has been built on, and that's what our team is about."
It has to do with his coaches, too. Brady praised Bill Belichick and the rest of the coaching staff for their job in preparing the Patriots before Monday night's game.
"Coach Belichick does that better than anybody who has ever coached," said Brady. "And coach McDaniels does that better than any offensive coordinator I've ever been with, and Matt Patricia gets those guys ready on defense. That's complementary football, that is Patriots football."
Brady appeared as prepared as anyone, going 21-for-35 with 296 yards and four touchdowns. Not bad for a guy who had a baby earlier in the week.
His wife Gisele Bundchen gave birth to a baby girl, Vivian, at home on Wednesday.
"Not difficult at all, to tell you the truth," said Brady. "We had an extra day to prepare, and I tried to get ahead. I've always been trying to get ahead these last few weeks. When our little girl came I was where I needed to be, so it was just great. She was born at night and I was able to go in the next night and miss just a little bit of the meetings in the morning and get right to work. Everything was taken care of at home."
Brady will play his hometown team on Sunday night. He's already watched tape on the San Francisco 49ers and he explained that New England will face another test when it sees the Niners defense.
"One of the best that I've ever seen," Brady said. "Physical, extremely physical in the secondary with the safeties, two safeties who arephenomenalplayers inDashon Goldson andDonte Whitner, good solid group of corners, two of the best linebackers inNaVorro Bowman and Patrick Willis, guys that can rush the quarterback in Justin Smith and Aldon Smith. They can rush, they can cover, they can stop the run, they can blitz. They really allow their guys to do things that they are good at. It's going to be fun, they've got a great group, I haven't played the 49ers in a long time and I'm always excited to play the 49ers."