Brady in defense of Moss.

Tom Brady met the media Wednesday, and as can be expected, one relative newcomer to the media corps asked a long, rambling question (37 seconds, which means it would have violated the shot clocks in the NBA, high school basketball and men's college basketball) about Randy Moss and what the team sees in him that the national pundits don't.

If nothing else, Brady is a diplomatic soul. And his answer was actually a good one.

"He's a great competitor. He works extremely hard and he's a huge part of this team. They don't break down all of the film and see what we see and what the other team's trying to do game-plan wise. Randy's a great part of this team. He's a leader, he's a captain, a great teammate for all of us ... you're not going to find anybody in that locker room that doesn't enjoy being aroudn him. I love playing with the guy. He's made catch after catch this season, last season, the season before, that no other player in the league makes. I know everybody wants to criticize all of us when we don't do well, or we don't play our best, and we're OK with that. That's just part of the job description, so to speak. Within our locker room, we're all just trying to focus on what we need to do better, not necessarily what the other guys need to do better ... it's part of our jobs, and we can all handle it. And fortunately for all of us, when you don't play your best game, whether it's me or Wes (Welker) or Randy or the offensive line, we get to go out there and play the next week, too. I think we take a lot of comfort in that."

Brady was asked for an example of the Randy Moss the public doesn't see.

"He's a very smart player. He recognizes coverages ... sometimes he knows when he probably won't get the ball, and that's probably the ones they focus on on TV ... and you know, he probably won't based on the coverage or based on that week of practice. I don't think any of us think that when you're triple-covered, this is when we've you've really got to (throw there). And I think that sometimes the cameras focus on him at that time and they say, 'look,' and that's not really right. I'm sure you could go through a lot of players in the league and do that. Randy's there, and believe me, I have so much confidence in him. That's why he keeps getting the ball and that's why we go to him in the most critical situations, because he's one of our very best players. Like I've said, I've always enjoyed our relationship, we're all in this together and we all just keep fighting through whatever adversities we face as individuals and this team."