01:00 AM EST on Thursday, January 27, 2005

BY TOM E. CURRAN
Journal Sports Writer

The new feel-good story of the Patriots' season is that quarterback Tom Brady played remarkably in the AFC Championship Game despite feeling not so good. But it wasn't just Brady.

Tom Brady Sr. confirmed last night that his son was "really sick," and added that tight end Daniel Graham needed three IVs and that Mike Vrabel also was in a particularly bad way during the Pats' 41-27 win over Pittsburgh that advanced them to Super Bowl XXXIX.

Sports Illustrated first reported yesterday that Brady had a 103-degree fever Saturday night in Pittsburgh and ate wedding soup and took IVs to prepare him for the game the next night.

"It stuns me (they were able to play so well), said the elder Brady. "Tommy was sick Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Saturday night he was sick as a dog. Typically, we get into a conversation the night before the game that lasts for 5 or 10 minutes. This lasted 30 seconds before he said, 'I just feel awful.' We just cut it short intentionally."

Brady Sr. said he could tell his son was still feeling the effects of his sickness when, after throwing a 60-yard touchdown pass to Deion Branch in the first quarter, Brady headed for the sidelines immediately, forgoing the normally raucous end zone celebrations he gets into with his receivers.

"He just didn't have the energy to celebrate," said Brady Sr., who also marveled that Vrabel was able to chug downfield and get a block on Ben Roethlisberger during Rodney Harrison's 87-yard interception return. Harrison, meanwhile, "didn't have anything," and had to check himself out of the game briefly in the third quarter not because of injury but because he was so spent.

"It's all character," said Brady Sr. "And the fact is, nobody cares if you're sick or not. Either you perform or you don't perform."

A spot's still open

There don't appear to be any immediate plans for the Patriots to fill their empty roster spot. The team has 52 players at this point after releasing safety Antwan Harris earlier in the week. Harris was in the fold as insurance given the team's dire secondary situation. Now that they've healed up, Harris' services weren't needed.

Meanwhile, the team's scouting and pro personnel departments should be feeling good this week for their work in deciding to go out and sign cornerback Hank Poteat, a free-agent pickup who made two nice plays in the AFC Championship Game. He's an unquestioned upgrade over Earthwind Moreland.

Squib kicks

Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher wrapped up his team's season in a press conference yesterday and said, "We did not play our best or coach our best in our biggest game. I told the players, 'Please do not allow one game to define this season.' This group will get back up. It's not the end, it's the beginning. I understand there's disappointment throughout the city, but it's unfair to allow that game to be the one you identify with this season. We didn't get it done. We got beat by a pretty good football team." . . . The Patriots sacked Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb in the last meeting between the teams, which came in Week 2 of the 2003 season. The Pats won that one, 31-10.