The absence of any reference to Tom Brady’s ankle on the Super Bowl injury report prompted many to conclude that he wasn’t injured.  Especially since the report did mention that persistent shoulder problem of unknown origin, which by all appearances has never actually affected his performance.

And Brady’s personal passing guru, Tom Martinez, now tells the New York Daily News that Brady’s performance in the Super Bowl suggests that the ankle was indeed bothering him.

“He had chances and he had guys open, but in an atypical way, the ball wasn’t getting there,” Tom Martinez told the Daily News.  “[The coaches] didn’t move the pocket much to get him outside the pocket.  They didn’t do some things they’ve done in the past.  That led me to believe there was some kind of problem with the ankle.

“I saw a different approach from them,” Martinez added. “They’re so smart, and yet it was kind of shocking they didn’t have a few more answers.  I felt like — and I have to be careful with what I say — that they stayed too long with what they were doing.

“They weren’t really aggressive the way they went about it.  In the second and third period, it’s like they were trying to hang on, 7-3.  That led me to believe that something internal was going on.  It wasn’t typical.  Those coaches always have answers to the people who give them problems.”

If Brady really was injured, it makes us wonder whether the ruse to make him appear to be just fine actually hampered his physical preparation for the game.  For example, after he was spotted in a walking boot in Manhattan 15 days ago, he was quick to create video of himself walking around without the boot, perhaps at a time when he needed to be wearing the boot.  And he took every rep in practice last week, even though maybe he should have been spending that time not testing an ankle that needed to further heal.

To their credit, the Pats aren’t using Brady’s condition as an excuse.  Then again, they really can’t.  By declaring his ankle to be healthy via the injury report, any suggestion that it wasn’t could prompt the NFL to come down hard of them.

After all, the purpose of the injury report is to ensure that there will be no inside information to which gamblers might try to get access by, for example, paying off players or other team employees.  In this case, the apparent health of Brady would have made New England minus-12 appear to be a good bet.  For anyone who knew the truth, the Giants getting the points was the smart play.