Brady mum on concussion claim
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady on Friday declined to confirm or deny whether he sustained a concussion in 2016, as the superstar's wife Gisele Bundchen said in May.
"I don't want to get into things that happened in my past, certainly medical history and so forth. I really don't think that's anybody's business," Brady told reporters after the Patriots practice at Gillette Stadium -- his first meeting with the press since the day after the Pats' triumph in Super Bowl 51 in February.
"I'm focused on this year and improving and working on things I need to get better at.
"So that's how I approach everything. I'm not sitting here worried about last year, or five years ago. There are other people that do worry about that -- my wife, or my parents, or my sisters, people that love me and care about me. But I do the best I can do to be prepared to play -- mentally and physically -- and I give the game everything I can."
Brazilian super-model Bundchen told CBS This Morning in May that her husband had suffered a concussion last season -- and in prior NFL campaigns -- even though he has never been listed with a head injury on the team's injury reports.
His agent issued a statement contradicting Bundchen, and the NFL said the league had reviewed Brady's file and found "no records that indicate Mr. Brady suffered a head injury or concussion, or exhibited or complained of concussion symptoms."
The NFL has faced growing scrutiny in recent years linked to the issue of concussions and head trauma, with the league agreeing in 2015 on a $1 billion settlement to resolve thousands of lawsuits by former players suffering from neurological problems.
Brady, who turned 40 on Thursday, was asked about the chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) study released last week that found 99 percent of the brains donated by families of former NFL players and examined by researchers were diagnosed with the degenerative condition.
"You're not blind to it as a player," Brady said. "That's why I believe in so much of being proactive with your health.
"I think when you're a player, and you see other players before you that did things a certain way and what's transpired with their health or well-being, and then you learn from it. I think that's the things I've really tried to incorporate in my own life.
"So I'm confident in what I do. I'm confident in the things I do and the ways I train, you know. But it's a contact sport, and I think we all understand that. There are a lot of great benefits that football brings you, (but) certainly you can be put in harm's way."
Brady earned his fifth Super Bowl title in February when the Patriots rallied from a 25-point third-quarter deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons in overtime.