In a completely unsurprising turn of events, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was honored today as the AFC Offensive Player of the Week for the opening week of the 2011 NFL season. The award was the 18th of his career which places him tied for second with Dan Marino for the most selections.
Brady earned the honor after a record-breaking performance in the Patriots' 38-24 win over the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football. The reigning NFL MVP totaled 517 offensive yards to become the 11th quarterback to top 500 yards in a game and passed to Wes Welker on a 99-yard play for a touchdown to tie a league record for the longest play from scrimmage.
Speaking to the media today in the Patriots locker room, Brady remained humble, as always, regarding the honor, instead focusing his efforts towards New England's home opener against the San Diego Chargers this Sunday. Plain and simple, he wants fans to cheer louder for the Patriots.
"Yeah, start drinking early." Brady said. "Get nice and rowdy. 4:15 game, lot of time to get lubed up. Come out here, and cheer for the home team."
Just in case anyone interpreted the comments as referring to alcohol, the Patriots public relations department later clarified the statement to say, "Stay hydrated, drink a lot of water, be loud, drink responsibly."
In the end, Brady commented on how loyal Patriots fans hold the team responsible, as they should.
"Look, we make good plays, they're going to scream," he added. "If we don't make good plays, they're going to probably boo us. So we're going to focus on making good plays. The crowd, it always helps when they're loud but we got to give them reasons to be loud, we've got to give them reasons to cheer for us. Hopefully those muskets are going off a lot this weekend."
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