01/28 — There is no truth to the rumor that New England held its Monday media session in the Phoenix Convention Center because coach Bill Belichick didn't want the early horde of reporters descending on the team hotel. Actually, reporters did that Sunday when the Patriots arrived.

But Belichick didn't change his spots when it came to revealing anything about QB Tom Brady's sore ankle, going for 19-0 or anything else today, six days before Super Bowl XLII between the Patriots and Giants.

"It's good to be out in this warm sunshine in Arizona," said Belichick, as if taping a spot for the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee. For the occasion, the coach wore a sand-colored sportcoat, perhaps in honor of the nearby desert, and a gold tie over a blue dress shirt. "It seems to be going smoothly for us."

Indeed, the Pats missed heavy flooding downpours in the Valley of the Sun the previous two days. Today's weather was in the high 60s, perhaps 70, slight breeze, beautiful cumulus clouds sitting atop the mountain crags that ring the area, and plenty of sun.

Going smoothly also described Brady, perhaps, who opened up at Sunday's first media session at the Super Bowl venue by talking about that right foot, when he hurt it (third-quarter sack vs. San Diego) and how much he practiced last week at Foxboro (just jogging and throwing).

Belichick, asked if he had an update on Brady's ankle after Monday's workout, said with a smile, "No, not really," adding, "He was out there along with everybody else."

The six Patriots who followed their coach in smaller interview sessions around the back of the third-floor ballroom were just as informative about their QB.

"He's Tom," said WR Wes Welker. "He's one of the best quarterbacks around. He looked great."

"I try not to study him too much," said LT Matt Light. "I've got a lot of guys in front of me I've got to deal with. I'm sure he's doing all right, though."

As usual, Belichick and players deflected all comments about shooting for 19-0 in the process of trying to defeat the Giants for a second time this season.

"We're happy to be here," the coach said. "You aren't going to get any complaints from us. It's a privilege to play in the Super Bowl and we're going to treat it that way."

Best quote of the session came from ageless LB Junior Seau, wearing what I would call a porkpie hat at his podium and smiling as he answered each question as if he was indeed happy to be here. The question was about the Patriots system he's playing now after all those seasons with San Diego.

"It's like you're a subcontractor — a plumber or a roofer," Seau said of an imaginary two-week job. "Although you may be a plumber, the next week Belichick could say, 'Go fix the roof.' I'd say in this scheme you have to be versatile. You have to be able to do more than just plug the A and B gaps."

Sound familiar?

There would be more here on the Giants but they left early today and their flight to Sky Harbor International was delayed for an unspecified reason. They were supposed to land around 2:45 p.m. MST (4:45 EST) but instead got in around 4 p.m. Media buses were just leaving for the Giants' hotel and their media session when I left the Patriots session to come back to my hotel and bang this report out.

Never fear, there will be plenty on the Giants and more on the Patriots the rest of this week, beginning with the legendary Tuesday Media Day activities. If you've never seen footage of this event, check it out, perhaps with some of the media on newyorkjets.com or on nfl.com. It's like watching 2,000 ants work over about 100 morsels of food during a picnic. And I'll be among the larger ants working the floor and the stands at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Also be aware that we'll be airing some Super Bowl Radio beginning Tuesday at about 3 p.m. EST when Eric Allen and I will hook up on the phone and talk about the day's events. And each day's "show" will be archived on our Multimedia Home page.