There is football, and there is family. These days, there isn’t time for much else. Brady has learned, as all parents do, that there is a balance that must be struck, and he hopes that his wife and children understand that he can’t give them as much time in autumn and winter.

Hopefully, the time they do have is enough to satisfy them, to satisfy him, until the season is over.

His wife, Gisele Bundchen, is expecting their second child together; it could be a girl, of course, and while Brady wants just a healthy baby, he believes he has had good training to deal with a daughter.

“I grew up with three sisters,” he said. “What I loved about having sisters is you understand the sensitivity of the girls in the house, and I think that was a wonderful lesson for me as a boy and as a young man.

“Not that I understand women, because believe me I don’t,” he adds with a laugh and a gesture with his hands, waving away the very idea.

“But at least I can understand the dynamics of the house when there’s girls running around.”

The second half of the season begins Sunday. The playoffs will follow.

He is asked how he thinks the season will end.

“It’s up for us to determine,” Brady said. “We’ve got to go out and prove it and we’ve got to prove it to everybody; we’ve got to prove it to ourselves. There’s highs of the season and there’s lows of the season and we’ve had some lows and we’ve had some highs.

“It’s been a fun year. We’ve got a lot of good guys that care about winning and care about each other, and care about doing the right thing, and the more of those you have, you’re going to be . . . you can’t win with people who don’t care about football, don’t care about the team. We’ve tried that and it doesn’t work.

“It’s a lot more fun, and you look around to the guys next to you and you’re like, ‘Man, that guy, even if he doesn’t make the play, at least he gives a you-know-what.’ And it’s hard when people don’t care because there’s a lot of guys that care and a lot of guys sacrifice a lot.

“Part of being a Patriot is you sacrifice a lot to win, and if you feel like other guys aren’t doing it, it’s hard because it takes a lot of people to pull one person along, which the more guys you have to pull along, the less you have going against your opponent.