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Super Bowl

Brady, Patriots confront another grim defeat to G-Men

By NFL.com Staff | Published: February 6th, 2012 

INDIANAPOLIS — Tom Brady sat slumped at his locker, facing away from reporters — away from the world — pulling up his socks.

With the stark reality of Super Bowl XLVI sinking in, the Patriots QB moved in slow motion. Expressionless. It’s the Brady you’d imagine seeing 20 years from now.

Across the locker room at Lucas Oil Stadium, DT Gerard Warren talked about an opportunity lost.

“It’s tough to take,” Warren said. “I mean, like I said, you get to the peak of the mountain. You can’t take that last step to get all the way to the top, stick your flag up and crown it. … It’s tough to take.”

In between reporters’ questions, the room was still, painfully hushed. Warren was asked if he’d taken a look at his quarterback sitting alone.

“I didn’t see him over there,” he said. “I know the whole team’s probably disappointed, the whole organization right now. Like I said, our goal wasn’t to just get to the Super Bowl, it was to finish it out the right way. We’re on the short end of the stick.”

At the lip of the room, Patriots owner Robert Kraft leaned into a confidant and asked, “What should we do?”

Someone mentioned moving on to some obligatory postgame party, but it was the furthest thing from anyone’s mind in this room.

– Marc Sessler