Tom Brady — who was shown by ESPN’s cameras throwing on the Gillette Stadium field on Monday prior to the NCAA lacrosse championship — was on the practice field and working out with his Patriots teammates for an OTA practice session Tuesday. The workout is the first of four days of work this week in Foxborough, with the media getting access to the third session on Thursday.

While the real Brady is back working out with his teammates, his likeness will also be back in the spotlight this week as he graces the cover of Sports Illustrated. Brady – shown in a close-up shot wearing his helmet taken at Super Bowl XLII — is the subject of a Peter King cover story with the words: “I’ll be ready” — The Season Can’t Come Soon Enough For A Healthy Tom Brady.

Brady sat down and talked with King last week at Gillette, after the quarterback went through a throwing workout with Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Joey Galloway and Greg Lewis. While the story is somewhat short, especially as SI cover stories go, there are some interesting notes in it.

–King writes that Brady called the last eight months since his 2008 season-ending knee injury “the halftime of my career, I want to play another 10 years.” Brady goes on to discuss his love for the game, commanding 52 guys and running in front of 80,000 people. “What the hell else am I going to do? I don’t like anything else,” he tells SI.

–Brady blames himself for the infection after his initial reconstructive knee surgery, causing the setback by carrying his son, Jack, on his shoulders two days after surgery and trying to “prove I could move around and get ahead of schedule.”

–King writes that Brady chose orthopedic surgeon Neal S. ElAttrache because he was a friend. Inerestingly King also relates a tale from Super Bowl Sunday this past February that had Brady, ElAttrache and other friends playing football on a field at UCLA.

–Brady discussed how being away from the game rebuilt his love for it. He says that he used to complain about practices and the little things during the season. Now, “if I hear two-a-day practices? Great! Let’s have three.”

–Most importantly Brady reiterates what the recent film footage and everything we’ve heard all offseason has told us — he’s ready to go. He told King that he’s, “as confident as anyone could be that I’ll be ready to play, back to playing normally, when the season starts…There’s nothing I can’t do.”

That’s continued good news for Patriots Nation. Brady is in town, fully healthy, working out with the team at OTAs. PFW will be in the house on Thursday when the media gets a first glimpse of the full-team workouts that include Brady. Until then keep an eye out for the latest Sports Illustrated with the former NFL MVP and three-time Super Bowl champ on the cover and talking about “looking forward” to every practice this spring as he prepares to lead the Patriots on another Super Bowl run this winter.