Aug 31, 2009 1:34 pm US/Eastern
Tedy Bruschi: 'My Job Is Done'
FOXBORO (WBZ) ―
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Tedy Bruschi announced his retirement August 31 at Gillette Stadium.
WBZ
Tedy Bruschi announced his retirement Monday after a 13-year career as a linebacker with the New England Patriots.
Bruschi told reporters "my job is done" after explaining his goal each day was to "do his job."
Watch: Sports Final: DeOssie On Bruschi
Bruschi was joined at a news conference Monday morning with Patriots owner Robert Kraft and head coach Bill Belichick.
The inside linebacker played for no other team and leaves football with only one unachieved goal -- a fourth championship.
GETTING OLDER
"I'm 36 years old," Bruschi said at a news conference. "Your body doesn't heal as quickly."
He came back from a mild stroke in February 2005 to play eight months later.
"I was retired," he said. "I didn't think it was possible" to play again.
Bruschi's performance declined last year and he was playing with the second unit on defense this summer.
He missed much of training camp with an undisclosed injury but played in two of the team's last three exhibition games.
'THE PERFECT PLAYER'
Belichick, usually stoic, choked up as he discussed Bruschi.
Watch: Belichick: Bruschi 'Perfect Player'
"How do I feel about Tedy Bruschi?" Belichick said. "He's a perfect player."
Bruschi's reaction?
"That's something you'll never hear during your career," he said as he and Belichick laughed.
"To have him say that to me is probably the best compliment he could ever give me."
PASSING THE TORCH?
But Bruschi was listed with the second unit this summer behind second-year pros Jerod Mayo and Gary Guyton.
Even before Bruschi's retirement, Mayo had taken over the defensive signal-calling.
A first-round draft choice out of Tennessee, he was the Defensive Player of the Year last season.
"I wouldn't specifically say the torch has been passed to me, but it's been passed to this whole defense," Mayo said. "It's just going to take a group effort to really pick up the slack for his absence."
FAULK NOW 'OLDEST' PATRIOT
Bruschi's retirement leaves running back Kevin Faulk, drafted by the Patriots in 1999, as the longest tenured member of the team.
Quarterback Tom Brady, drafted in 2000, is the second most senior Patriot.
On defense, 2001 first-round pick, defensive end Richard Seymour, has been with the team the longest.
In the offseason, the Patriots lost two other defensive leaders -- safety Rodney Harrison to retirement and linebacker Mike Vrabel in a trade with Kansas City.
"I don't think you can fill that (leadership) void with one person," outside linebacker Adalius Thomas said. "(Bruschi) has been here. He's seen so much, been through so many things."
MANGINI REACTION
Cleveland Browns coach Eric Mangini was New England's defensive coordinator in 2005 after spending five seasons as the team's defensive backs coach.
"Tedy is an unbelievable guy, a special guy," Mangini said Monday.
"He moved to inside linebacker my first year there and there was some growing pains. I swear he is made out of elastic the way he can get around blockers and torque his body."
Sen. John Kerry issued a statement calling Bruschi "the heart and soul of the New England Patriots, a leader, a motivator and a role model."
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(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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