New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said Monday he initially wasn’t sure if his thumb injury would have kept him out of Sunday’s 24-20 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC championship game.
Brady popped up on the injury report Wednesday when Patriots running back Rex Burkhead collided with Brady, cutting the quarterback’s hand in the process. Brady reportedly required 12 stitches, but still threw for 290 yards and two touchdowns Sunday.
Speaking to WEEI, Brady said his chances of playing “didn’t look good for a minute” when first suffering the injury.
“It was pretty stressful. I was stressed out,” Brady said. “You drive home and you have all these stitches in this place. You’re driving home and I saw my wife and she said, ’What happened?!’ and I said, ’I know, it was just an accident in practice.’ She said, ’What is going to happen?’ I said, ’I don’t know. We’ll see how it goes.’”
Many were skeptical that Brady’s injury was actually serious. Would a five-time Super Bowl champion actually miss a high-profile game because of a jammed thumb?
But Brady insisted his brief answers beforehand weren’t about trying to play mind games with the Jaguars. On Sunday, Brady wore surgical tape wrapped around his thumb.
“Everyone deals with injuries,” Brady said. “It is just part of the season and part of the year. The timing and where exactly it was wasn’t the best thing in the world for a quarterback, but it is what it is.”
Brady said he’ll be good to go for Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4 when the Patriots take on the Philadelphia Eagles.
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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