Brady reflects on loss of mentor, preps for 2012

As for the minicamp and the end of the offseason training activities, Brady said he and the team covered a lot of ground. This is a club coming off a 13-3 regular-season record and an AFC championship, of course.

“It’s been a lot of fun, being back on the field, having a chance to work with a lot of the new guys,” Brady said. “Some of those guys we’ve worked with and there’s a lot of familiarity with. They’ve already done our offense, so it’s been good. We’ve had 12 practices.”

The Patriots are now off until July 26, when they report to training camp. The key between then and now for Brady & Company? Do not treat the next five weeks as vacation.

“We’re in full preparation mode. This is the point where things really start getting ramped up. There’s no breaks. We had our vacation,” he said. “We had a lot of time off and now it’s time to really focus in on what we need to do because we’re going to blink and the first game is going to be here. You have about five weeks and everyone should use it really wisely, get in better shape, better football shape, have a better understanding of what we’re doing so that we can go out there and when training camp starts, you can really get off to a great start.

“I’ve got a long way to go _ a long way to go _ nowhere near where I want to be or need to be.”

He’ll get there, of course.

Martinez wouldn’t have had it any other way.

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