FOXBOROUGH -- Tom Brady has been on the injury report quite a bit this season with various injuries, most recently due to his right elbow.
While Brady hasn't missed a session, he's been limited numerous times. When someone is listed as limited it's unclear exactly how much their participation actually is, as it could be missing one drill or even only participating in one drill.
At his press conference Tuesday, Bill Belichick was asked about backups Jarrett Stidham and Cody Kessler in these practices and within his answer the coach acknowledged maybe for the first time ever Brady hasn't been able to do a lot in some practices.
"Those guys are always ready to go," Belichick said. "It's an opportunity for them. It's hard to practice three quarterbacks, but there have been a couple examples where Tom hasn't been able to do a lot this year, so that's given Stidham an opportunity to go with the first group and run our plays and run our offense, and that's been good for him. It's given Cody an opportunity to run more scout-team plays because Jarrett's not taking those. So, quarterbacks are always looking for more work. They've taken advantage of it. I think it's helped them.
"You don't always want to do it that way, but sometimes it's best to do things that way. That's good for everybody. You want everybody out there as healthy as they can be. That's ultimately the goal. It's not always that way, and certainly, that's a better scenario than having just two quarterbacks. Then one guy has to take everything. Not that he can't take it. It's the National Football League, but mentally going from a defensive period to an offensive period to a defensive period to an offensive period is not really the best. It's not as conducive to the high level of execution you need at either one. But sometimes that's what it is, so you have to adjust."
If Brady were leave after the season, these two quarterbacks would factor into next year's equation with the possibility of a veteran being added.
The 42-year-old isn't having the greatest year statistically. He is completing 60 percent of his passes (tied for 29th in the league) for an average of 6.5 yards per attempt (tied for 28th) and a quarterback rating of 86.5 (21st in the league).
The Patriots will take on the Bills Saturday at Gillette Stadium.
