No reason to back off Pats as my Super Bowl pick

	Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has thrown 19 touchdowns and nine interceptions this season. Damian Strohmeyer/SI
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We'll be double-fisting drumsticks, supersizing stuffing and manhandling mashed potatoes like they're about to be outlawed. But you'll be happy to know that a certain star quarterback will be limiting his portions at his Back Bay condo come Thursday evening and waving off that oh-so-tempting slice of pumpkin pie.

"Knowing Belichick, he'll probably have a weigh-in Friday morning," Tom Brady said Tuesday as he drove home from the Patriots' practice facility. "So no, there's not too much enjoyment planned. He doesn't care about holidays. His holiday is Monday, after we win."

Brady was laughing as he said this, and if you're a New England fan, this is a very good sign. For one thing, it means the star quarterback and his head coach -- despite a rocky summer fueled by Deion Branch's holdout and subsequent trade to the Seahawks -- are on good enough terms for one to goof on the other publicly.

It's also a sign that the franchise's two most important men are gearing up for that thing they do best -- winning a Super Bowl, something they've accomplished three times in the last five years.

If there's one thing the Killer Bs know as well as anyone in football, it's that Thanksgiving marks the unofficial beginning of the championship hunt. Oh, sure, you have to be semi-respectable up to that point, but until late November it is all about survival as you attempt to grow into your greatness.

I learned this back in the day from the inimitable Ronnie Lott, and as much as it pains this extremely grumpy Golden Bear to quote a Trojan right now, I can still hear him lecturing me and my fellow beat writers in a cleared-out 49ers locker room in that stern, sage-like voice of his: "Great teams don't become great until December and January. Until then it's just about finding a way to win a football game."

Not surprisingly Brady, whose bust will someday join Lott's in Canton, is in complete agreement.

"Yeah, of course," Brady said. "In 2001 we won nine straight after Thanksgiving. In '03 we won all but one of them. I think all the work you've put in to this point is ready to pay off, and hopefully now you start to play your best football. We're 7-3, and teams that are 6-4, 5-5, and even 4-6 are still in it. Look at Pittsburgh last year; they were 7-5 before they turned it on. This is the time."

I've known Brady long enough to know he doesn't just blurt things out, and I can tell you the tone in his voice was flat-out inspirational. He knows that there is no Super team out there -- at least, not yet -- and that the Pats have one hell of an upside.

Before the season I picked New England to win it all, and as long as Brady is still upright and Belichick (whose first name is Bill, in case you're just tuning in) is still roaming the sidelines in his ratty sweatshirt with the cut-off sleeves, I'm standing by that prediction.