Teammates say Brady will play in Super Bowl with hurting ankle
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Tom Brady was nowhere to be found by reporters and cameraman waiting eagerly for the star quarterback, with or without his famous boot.

His teammates are certain where to find him on Feb. 3 - on a Super Bowl field for the fourth time in his career and leading his heavily favored New England Patriots against the New York Giants.'

On Monday, Brady was photographed in Manhattan with a walking boot on his right foot, a protective device he had removed before going to a club that night with his girlfriend Gisele Bundchen. The much-publicized boot didn't turn up in any pictures or video taken of him Tuesday by celebrity chasers.

Yet it gained celebrity status itself. ''Well, considering the fact that he always has cameras in his face, I guess it was only a matter of time,'' Evans said of the superstar who squires a supermodel around New York City.

The fact he walked with the boot with only a slight limp that wasn't evident later was a sign that his injury wasn't serious. It turned out to be a minor high ankle sprain, according to published reports.

The NFLMVP apparently sustained it in Sunday's 21-12 win over the San Diego Chargers in the AFC championship game. He had two weeks for it to heal before the Super Bowl.

''I don't foresee him not being in this game,'' defensive end Richard Seymour said.

Brady has been in the Patriots' past 126 games, the third-longest current starting streak among active quarterbacks behind Brett Favre and Peyton Manning.

Teammates praise his dedication in the weight room that helps him remain durable.

''He puts in the work to be one of the elite players because when Tom first got here, he was a slim, skinny kid,'' Seymour said, ''and now you kind of look at him and he has legs, chest.

''He's in there doing Olympic lifts and working out in the offseason just like he was an offensive or defensive lineman.''

The Patriots returned to practice Thursday after three days off.

Photographers and reporters waited for Brady to walk, limp or even crawl in. They didn't see any of that.

Brady never showed up in the locker room for the 45 minutes in which the media were allowed inside.

Then he was a no-show for the 15- minute media access period at practice. Seldom-used backups Matt Cassel and Matt Gutierrez never had so many cameras focused on them as photographers waited in vain for the leader of the quarterbacks to start stretching beside them.

That was quite a change from early in the week when Brady walked through a bunch of scampering videographers and photographers near Bundchen's home, an obstacle that could be as intimidating as the Giants' fierce pass rush.

But he handled it with poise, neither smiling nor frowning much, if at all, and not responding to comments from the paparazzi.