FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Tom Brady briskly handled his news conference on Sunday after another postseason win had taken him to the Super Bowl, though a few moments later he revealed the spark that drives him.
Brady let his polished guard down when he stopped to talk with former teammate Willie McGinest of the NFL Network in the concrete hallway leading out of Gillette Stadium.
“I still feel like a young kid out there. I have so much fun playing,” he said when asked about thriving after 15 seasons in the National Football League.
Brady’s supermodel wife, Gisele Bundchen, waited, beaming with a brand new AFC title cap pulled down over her blond tresses.
Another game, another postseason milestone for Brady, 37, who leapfrogged Peyton Manning for most postseason passing yards in Sunday’s 45-7 rout of the Indianapolis Colts.
The next chance to add to his legacy will come when Brady leads the Pats against the defending champion Seattle Seahawks in the Feb. 1 Super Bowl at Glendale, Arizona.
“They’re a great team, obviously one of the best defenses in the league,” said Brady, also number one in postseason wins and touchdown passes. “We’ll put together a plan that we’ll go out and execute with confidence, and score a lot of points. That’s what our goal is.”
Brady will match throws against Russell Wilson, 26, of the Seahawks, who are trying to become the first team to claim back-to-back Super Bowls since Brady’s bunch in 2005.
A win would be Brady’s fourth and tie him with boyhood idol Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw for most Super Bowl rings.
“That Super Bowl game, anything can happen,” said Brady, who suffered agonizing defeats to the Giants in his last two NFL title games in 2008 and 2012.
Brady still burns to excel after joining the NFL as a sixth-round pick out of Michigan, the 199th player taken in 2000.
“You have to put the time in to be a true professional. Study, prepare the way you need to,” said Brady.
“It’s easy to do in September, easy to do in October. It starts getting hard in November and December. Some days you don’t feel like going out there. But you’ve got to be able to grind, you’ve got to be able to put it in the bank.
“You get rewarded when you win games like this.”
On Sunday night, Brady threw two of his three touchdown passes during a 21-point third-quarter blitz as host New England advanced to its sixth Super Bowl in 14 seasons.
LeGarrette Blount rumbled for 148 yards and three touchdowns as the Patriots (14-4) ripped off 31 unanswered points to set up a date with the Seattle Seahawks in a matchup of top-seeded teams. Brady finished 23-of-35 for 226 yards with an interception to become the first starting quarterback to reach six Super Bowls.
Tight end Rob Gronkowski and left tackle Nate Solder each caught a touchdown pass as New England scored 21 points in a span of under eight minutes in the third quarter to turn it into a blowout. Julian Edelman had nine catches for 98 yards for the Patriots, who have outscored Indianapolis 189-73 in winning the last four meetings.
Andrew Luck struggled in the wet, windy conditions, completing 12-of-33 for 126 yards with two interceptions for the fourth-seeded Colts (13-6), who had surrendered only 23 points in playoff victories over Cincinnati and Denver. Zurlon Tipton’s 1-yard run accounted for the lone TD for Indianapolis, which was trampled for 166 yards and four TDs by Blount in last season’s 43-22 playoff loss in Foxborough.
Leading 17-7 at halftime, Brady drove the Patriots 87 yards in nine plays on the opening possession of the third quarter before hitting the 320-pound Solder, who lumbered into the end zone for a 15-yard TD. Brady capped a 62-yard drive with a 5-yard strike to Gronkowski on a slant pass before Darrelle Revis’ interception set up Blount’s 13-yard scoring run and a 38-7 lead with 2:08 left in the quarter.
New England converted a muffed punt into Blount’s 1-yard TD run before Brady tossed a 1-yard scoring pass to fullback James Develin for a 14-0 lead with 80 seconds left in the first quarter. D’Qwell Jackson came up with a big interception near the goal line and Luck drove the Colts 93 yards in 10 plays, capped by Tipton’s run, but Stephen Gostkowski’s 21-yard field goal made it 17-7 at halftime.