Thanks to Sam Chamberlain, here are a few highlights of Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady’s Q&A with D&C this morning. (For the complete audio of the interview, click here.)

Brady on gaining perspective from his injury: “Football’s a big part of my life, and I’ve been playing it every fall, and I’ve never been injured. I never missed a game in high school, college-there were times I didn’t play in college or times I didn’t play in the pros, but once I was the starting quarterback I’d never missed a game. So having played every game for the last 17 years, and then having what happened this past season happen, was, you know- you learn very different things, and I learned how much I love the game, and how much I miss the game … I’m just grateful to be out there,  and to have a job that I absolutely love, and especially in this day and age, you know, it’s been a tough year for our country and I feel grateful to have a job that I love and obviously one that affords me a lot of opportunities in my life.”

Whether the Patriots can return to their 2007 form: “Well, Coach talks about getting better every day and I’d like to think that Wes [Welker] and Randy [Moss] have gotten better every day since they’ve been with our team. They each had Pro Bowl years last year and the year before that. To me, they’re the ones who make our offense go, because they’re so explosive and so challenging for a defense … Now there’s a lot that goes into executing a play well, and if you’ve watched us the last three days, we certainly don’t look like we’re ready to go out there and take on Buffalo. But I’d like to think that with a bunch of practices under our belt, we’re going to be very, very, challenging to stop.”

On the importance of veterans in camp: “We put a lot on the young guys, and we have high expectations for the receiver position because of the guys who play that position, so if you go in for Randy we expect you to kind of be like Randy, and when rookies come in, they’re trying not to break the team rules, and they’re hoping they’re not called out the next morning. So there’s a difference, and Randy and Wes and Joey [Galloway] and Greg [Lewis]-they’re just cool guys. Nothing is too much for them, and when you get in the huddle they say ‘OK Tom. You got it. I understand what you want.’ You can go out there and play with confidence knowing they’ll give you exactly what you want.”

What he remembers of his injury: “I don’t really remember [any pain]. It’s more of a shock, and the trauma of that kind of injury. I remember walking off the field, and my leg just kind of felt disconnected, you know, like a grandfather clock just hanging down.”

On his sideline absences during last season: “I’d come back from the West Coast after the surgery, and still wasn’t feeling very good …And Coach Belichick just said, ‘It’d be more of a distraction for everyone if you were standing out there, and if someone comes barreling down the sideline, you can’t really get out of the way.’ … I was just focusing on my rehab, and doing my job while those guys were doing their job.”

On his jetsetting lifestyle as a married man and the loss of his privacy: “I have a wife who is known, and does work, and travels all across the world, and I want to be supportive of her. She’s living in Boston now, and every time I come home from work, I love having her there … There’s not as much privacy in my life anymore, and I’ve become very aware of that. I mean, flying to Brazil to see my wife’s family turns out to be a big deal when it’s really not. I just want to spend time with her and meet her family…I’d love to be able to go to a Red Sox game and hang out, but that’s just not the way it’s going to be.”