Tom Brady: “Definitely a challenge” for Antonio Brown to contribute right away

[The Dolphin]

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Antonio Brown became a Patriot on Monday. On Monday night, Tom Brady discussed with Jim Gray of Westwood One whether and to what extent Brown can contribute right away.

“That’s definitely a challenge, that’s just the time of the year and we are going to deal with those from now to the end of the season,” Brady told Gray. “We are just going to deal with those the best way we can. You’d love to have a training camp or an offseason to learn, but that’s just not our reality and we are going to do the best we can possibly do with the time that we have.”

To get Brown ready, Brady will help accelerate the learning curve.

“Yeah, you know we’re going to meet as much as we possibly can,” Brady said. “I think that quarterback-receiver relationship is so important. The more you know each other the more you know what each other’s thinking, the faster you can accelerate the trust and confidence in one another when you get on the field. I have that with a lot of guys that I played with certainly with the guys that are on the roster now, Julian [Edelman], Phillip Dorsett, Josh [Gordon]. You saw that last night. But when you haven’t played with guys, you got to try to do it as quickly as possible, and the clock is ticking on us right now. This is not the offseason program. This is about real games that count and we are going to try and spend as much time as we can together and really get up to speed and lock in with what our roles and responsibilities are.”

Brady is entering this new relationship with a blank slate, despite Brown’s various antics.

“You don’t judge anything,” Brady said. “I’m not judging anything before I have a chance to go out and practice and prepare. You know, Antonio, meeting him today I really enjoyed being around him, he’s a very smart football player, knows how to play the game. He’s been extremely productive. The only thing that I know what we can do is to go out there and work at it to meet and to communicate and get on the practice field and go through things. I’m not buying into any hype or potential. I’m into work. He’s into work and our entire offense is into doing what’s in the best interest for the team and I’m really excited to get to practice on Wednesday.

That’s when Brown will first be on the field with Brady. And that’s when the Patriots will first begin to decide whether Brown will be able to go when the Patriots face the Dolphins in Week Two.