Patriots' Tedy Bruschi to announce retirement Monday

Al Michaels just announced on NBC's Sunday Night Football telecast that New England Patriots LB Tedy Bruschi will announce his retirement tomorrow.

The Patriots have not confirmed the news but did issue a press release saying "The New England Patriots have called a press conference for an important player announcement at 10:45 Monday morning."

New NBC analyst Rodney Harrison, a former Patriots safety who also retired this offseason, had this to say about Bruschi on the telecast: "A terrific football player, a great friend of mine, one of the hardest-working guys that I've ever been around, a tremendous leader in that locker room, a guy that was an integral part of that 2003-2004 Super Bowl run that we had."

Bruschi, who entered the league under Bill Parcells as a third-rounder out of Arizona in 1996, has played in five Super Bowls with the Patriots.

A one-time Pro Bowler, he also came back from an offseason stroke to play nine games in 2005.

The Patriots have shown more 4-3 defensive looks this preseason with Jerod Mayo playing middle linebacker, an indication that the 36-year-old Bruschi, an inside backer in the 3-4 defense, was being phased out. Gary Guyton started next to Mayo in the last two preseason games when the Pats opened in their base 3-4.

But while preparing for what would have been his 14th NFL campaign this offseason, Bruschi, who knew he had more yesterdays than tomorrows in pro football, was also ensuring the next generation of Patriots was embracing the franchise's philosophy.

This summer, he told USA TODAY's Sean Leahy of the young Pats that he wanted to "show them the right way to do things -- how I am in the meetings, in the weight room and on the field. They get a very strong message from (head coach) Bill Belichick. If there's ever a reinforcement that's needed, there's guys like myself and (quarterback) Tom Brady to deliver the message."

-- Nate Davis (http://content.usatoday.com/)