The Carolina Panthers play the New England Patriots on Friday in Week 3 of the 2014 NFL preseason. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. ET. Listen to the live radio broadcast via the links provided below.
We haven't seen much of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady during the preseason, and understandably so. That could change Friday night in what's like to be his - along with most of the starters - last tune-up game before the regular season.
"Coach (Bill Belichick) told us we're going to get a lot of work," Brady said Wednesday after practice, via ESPN. "What that means, I don't know. I don't think anyone ever knows with him. But we'll be prepared and ready to go for 60 minutes and hopefully it's a good 60 minutes. We've had a couple of doozies in the third preseason game lately. It would be nice to have a good one."
Despite being a veteran, Brady still looks forward to playing in preseason games because of the game-like experience and the conditioning it provides.
"This (is) a good game to really gauge where you're at," said Brady, who could play into the third quarter Friday night. "... You have to get out there and play and get your mind working, and get into the situations and concentrate for extended periods of time. Certainly we're going to be asked to do four quarters of that in three weeks [in the Sept. 7 opener at Miami]. So hopefully we're in good enough condition to play a half, and hopefully we'll play a lot more than that."
Carolina's starters, conversely, aren't expected to see as many snaps on Friday. Panthers coach Ron Rivera said he doesn't anticipate playing his starters for more than 35 snaps.
"We won't really go long with the first group, but they should still get some quality reps, maybe even a two-minute drill at the end of the first half," Rivera told the team website after Wednesday's practice. "I would love to be able to do that, to get 30-35 snaps on both sides of the ball. That would be outstanding in terms of getting these guys some real good looks, quarterback included."
