The New York Times-20080125-Brady Adds to Mystique Just by Not Being There

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Brady Adds to Mystique Just by Not Being There

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A clutch of reporters stood at his locker, beginning the long, lonely vigil for the quarterback who never appeared.

Tom Brady, whose strolls around Manhattan with and without a walking boot set off a firestorm Monday as he was visiting his girlfriend, the Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen, he was nowhere to be seen Thursday when the Patriots began preparations for Super Bowl XLII against the Giants.

Brady remained out of sight during the 45 minutes that reporters were allowed in the New England Patriots' locker room. There was no sign of the walking boot in Brady's locker, only an ominously named box of protein bars -- Detour.

Brady was not present at the beginning of practice, when reporters were allowed to watch the first 10 minutes, which included stretching and a few positional drills. Brady could have appeared later, or not at all, and the mystery was only likely to deepen until the Patriots land in Arizona on Sunday night. That is when Brady is scheduled to speak to reporters for the first time since his footwear became front-page news.

Brady was wearing the boot for what was believed to be a mild high-ankle sprain as he arrived at Bundchen's West Village home carrying flowers Monday. Later that evening, he was in street shoes when he and Bundchen went out for dinner.

The Patriots are famously cagey about injuries. Brady has been listed as probable on the injury report since the opener of the 2003 season for a right shoulder injury, which did not seem to bother him as he threw for a record 50 touchdowns and was named the league's most valuable player this season. The Super Bowl teams are not obligated by the N.F.L. to deliver their first injury report until Wednesday.

Coach Bill Belichick declined Thursday to comment on Brady's health and, with a smile, said he did not even know if Brady would practice.

The injury report will be out next Wednesday, and we're excited to get that to you, Belichick said, provoking laughter from reporters. Filled out completely, and I can't wait to get that to you because I know you're anxious for it.

The last time Brady spoke publicly, on his regularly scheduled radio appearance Monday morning, he did not deny that he had been hurt, but he played down the severity of it. And it is hard to believe that Brady would have eschewed days of treatment in Foxborough in favor of shopping in SoHo with a serious injury. Still, his movements were tracked with stunning specificity this week. The New York Post reported that Brady and Bundchen ordered takeout Mexican food for dinner Tuesday night and had Chinese food for lunch Wednesday, before Brady departed for Massachusetts.

His teammates were amused by the spectacle of Brady walking around the opponent's hometown, but they did not seem worried about his being able to play.

Running back Kevin Faulk has worn a boot in the past, and attracted little notice. Because I'm not Tom Brady, I guess, Faulk said.

Linebacker Adalius Thomas said: I don't know anything about a boot, a cup or a shoe. Or slippers. I don't know. His slippers cost more than my shoes.

Fullback Heath Evans vowed to don a boot and see if you follow me around.

That seemed about as likely as Brady, who has started 126 consecutive games, third most for active N.F.L. quarterbacks behind Brett Favre and Peyton Manning, missing the Super Bowl. Brady sustained a bad ankle injury in the 2002 American Football Conference championship game, forcing Drew Bledsoe to finish up. Brady returned a week later -- there was no bye week before the game that season -- to lead the Patriots to their first Super Bowl victory.

Since then, Brady has worked assiduously to add muscle to stave off the wear and tear of the game. Teammates talk in awe about how Brady works out as much as linemen do, especially in the off-season. That, combined with Brady's ability to block out the trappings of his celebrity when it is time for work, make it seem unlikely that his performance will be undermined by this latest potential distraction.

I think Tom's one of the toughest players on our team both mentally and physically, Belichick said. He works hard. He's very calm. He's a great competitor, but he's very calm.

In the end, Brady's star turn with the paparazzi may go down as the most obvious example of how the Patriots' fortunes have changed since they were the scrappy two-touchdown underdog to the St. Louis Rams in that 2002 Super Bowl, the last time Brady's ankle was in the news.

Every channel I turned to, there it was, Patriots defensive lineman Richard Seymour said. Focused on the boot. I focused on the flowers.

[Illustration]PHOTO: Matt Gutierrez, left, and Matt Cassel were the only Patriots quarterbacks visible to reporters when practice began.(PHOTOGRAPH BY STEPHAN SAVOIA/ASSOCIATED PRESS)(pg. D3)