Brady's status .... Not to worry?

In a quick conversation at his locker today, Patriots QB Tom Brady implored, "Don't worry about me." Seemed OK, and said he is, at least in the sense that other football players are "fine" at this time of year.

So assuming he does play Sunday, will the Patriots be at all limited since their quarterback miss the two biggest practice days of the week -- Wednesday and Thursday? Bill Belichick addressed the subject at his press conference.

"That's something you want to take a look at maybe," the coach said. "But it's the same thing. We've played 12 regular season games, you're talking about guys that sometimes don't practice, but have played 8, 10, 12 years. They run an in-cut on this play. They throw an in-cut on this play, they block a twist, they cover an in-cut.

"Can we not run an in-cut? I'd like to think we'd be able to do that at this point in the season. I'd like to think we could throw one, cover one, I'd like to think we could block somebody, I'd like to think we could defeat block without going out there and doing it for four days in practice, and still be competitive.

"Now with that being said, you still need the practice, you still need the timing, you still need to see the plays develop on film. But can everyone take part in all of it? No. But can those guys still go out and be effective and play? Yeah. I think they can. Is it better for them to practice? Sure it is, if everyone's 100 percent healthy, they'd all be out there at practice. That'd be ideal. But it's not always ideal, and I don't think that means you can't be functional."

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