FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) – A teen-aged Tom Brady played in his driveway 20 miles south of San Francisco and pretended to be Joe Montana. He even tried to spot the 49ers quarterback at parades after they won Super Bowls.

“Never in a million years” could he have imagined being compared to the NFL Hall of Famer, Brady said Thursday. “Every quarterback in the league would love to play like him.”

Brady does.

Both are very competitive, intelligent and have excellent command of their offense and a knack for late-game comebacks. They have something else in common: the man who idolized Montana is now an idol himself.

“It’s really neat on Halloween when you see those jerseys,” Brady said Thursday. “I had a little kid come up to my door with a No. 12 jersey on. It’s like, “Oh, man.’ It’s just come such a long way.”

From part-time starter at Michigan to sixth-round draft choice to two-time Super Bowl MVP, Brady has made huge strides in a hurry. He’s just 27, but on Feb. 6 he can help the Patriots become only the second team to win three Super Bowls in four years if they beat Philadelphia.

But he’s still behind Montana’s four Super Bowl wins and eight Pro Bowl selections. Brady will be going to his second all-star game this year and admits he’s uncomfortable with the comparisons.

“I’m very flattered,” Brady said. “I don’t think I’m on that level (and) I’m still trying to get better.”

But he’s not easily distracted once he sets his goals.

He had a fever last weekend but still played brilliantly in the Patriots 41-27 win in the AFC championship game over the Pittsburgh Steelers. But he said he never came close to missing the game and downplayed the illness.

“There’s a lot of guys who were sick and a lot of guys aren’t feeling good and a lot of guys are probably playing with tougher ailments than I was,” Brady said with his usual instinct to deflect praise. “Guys have been doing that all year.

“Everyone plays with great toughness and never complains,” he said. “A little flu bug. Like that’s a big deal. You know (the attention it got) takes away from what those guys do.”

He wouldn’t say how sick he was but said he was feeling better Thursday. That’s very good for his chances to tie Montana by winning his third Super Bowl MVP award.

“What great goals that would be to play like one of the best quarterbacks of all time and I do think I’m a long ways from that,” Brady said. “Joe and Steve Young and Dan Marino and John Elway and some of these other great quarterbacks did it over such a long period of time. For me, this is my fourth year (as a starter) and that’s not a long time at all.”

Montana completed 63.2 percent of his passes and is seventh in touchdown passes and eighth in yards passing in 13 full seasons. Elbow surgery sidelined him for the entire 1991 season and limited him to one game in 1992.

Brady has completed 61.6 percent of his passes in five seasons, including his rookie year when he played just one game, and is 8-0 in the playoffs compared to Montana’s 7-1 record in his first eight postseason games before finishing at 16-7.

“Tom is as competitive as Montana,” said Patriots third-string quarterback Jim Miller, a 10-year veteran. “I just think Tom’s got a great feel for the game. He just has a great feel when to move in the pocket, when a certain guy’s going to be open.”

Brady has improved his accuracy and game management since he took the starting job after Drew Bledsoe was hurt in the second game of the 2001 season.

“When he’s in the zone, I don’t think there’s anybody better,” tight end Christian Fauria said.

The charismatic star has made such an impression that his teammates hear about it at home.

“Troy Brown tells me his little kid says I’m his favorite player,” Brady said. “So when you hear stuff like that from your own teammate you get the biggest kick out of it.”

As his achievements pile up in a career that should last many more years, more fans will wear his No. 12 jersey and admire the kid who once tossed a football in a driveway not far from where Montana was becoming an idol.

“Hopefully,” Fauria said, “people will be comparing other people to him. Hey, you got that Tom Brady quality. That would be more of a compliment than anything.”

AP-ES-01-27-05 1905EST