Tom Brady is a bona-fide NFL superstar. With movie star good looks, a supermodel wife and playing for one of the most successful NFL franchises over the last decade, Brady is the league’s closest version to that of a rock star.

After the first of two scheduled practices Wednesday, the media crowd circled the Super Bowl winning quarterback in numbers seldom, or perhaps maybe never seen, on the practice fields at One Buccaneer Place.

Brady talked to the continually growing crowd about the workouts in Tampa with the Buccaneers.

“It was fun,” Brady said. “Nice to be out here and see some different looks from a different team. But obviously we have a lot of work to do before Friday night.

“It’s definitely a different sense of competitiveness when you’re going against a team that is competing as hard on the other side of the ball as you are. You get quite a bit out of them. We see our guys in practice every day and their different techniques and coverages and so forth. This was nice to get out here and see some different looks, things we haven’t seen in a little humid condition. So hopefully we got a lot out of it.”

Brady has played sparingly in the preseason including sitting out last Monday’s night games against the Eagles. The former league MVP told the media he trusts Belichick’s plan.

“I just think every day you’re trying to make improvements whether you’re in there or not,” Brady said. “Sometimes you have opportunities, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes it’s on the practice field, sometimes it’s on the game field and you really have to take advantage of whatever opportunity you get. I don’t think it’s a matter of game situations. Every bit of practice should be as high-tempo as you can possibly have, as competitive as you can possibly be. If you work hard and you’re out here every day then we’ll be prepared and ready to go like we need to be.”

“Only time will tell. We’ll see when we kick off. The goal is to be as ready and prepared when we need to be. Coach Belichick has been through this quite a bit and so have I. I’m sure when the time comes ready to play, but we’ll be as prepared as we can possibly be.”

Brady told the crowd around him there are specific goals when training with another team.

“Well it’s different schemes that you’re seeing,” Brady said. “You want to see how your plays adjust to some different things. I think that’s what we’re trying to figure out is some of this things we’ve been working on that we haven’t had a chance to see against our own defense. We get to see them against another defense, which is always good for us. You develop some confidence in some plays and some situations. There was a lot of work today: third down, red area, backed up, going in, long-yardage, short-yardage. There was quite a bit that we worked on today.

“We come down here to get better as a football team. I don’t think it’s a vacation or a nice trip to Florida. This is for us to come down here and be a better football team in the league. So there’s no activities planned. We’ve got work to do this afternoon and tonight. We’re going to wake up tomorrow to come practice and work tomorrow night, then get ready to play the game.”

As the interview was wrapping up Brady was asked his thoughts on Tampa Bay’s starter under center.

“Honestly, I haven’t seen much of him,” Brady said. “Just trying to be focused on what we’re doing. He’s in the NFC so I don’t see a lot of him. He’s obviously doing a great job. They got a very good team here, and he’s the leader of the team.”