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FOXBORO - For Tedy Bruschi, the opportunity to play in another big game has become more precious with the passage of time.

For Kevin Faulk, the responsibility that comes along with his captaincy has been cherished from beginning to end of this special season.

And for Tom Brady, the significance of his status as one of the game's great quarterbacks is constantly put into perspective by the memories of his youth, sitting in the stands at Candlestick Park and watching Joe Montana and Steve Young lead the San Francisco 49ers to glory.

All of these athletes took the opportunity to reflect upon matters beyond the immediate challenge of the San Diego Chargers during their last press conferences leading up to Sunday's AFC Championship Game at Gillette Stadium (3 p.m.; Ch. 4, 12).

In a series of brief question-and-answer sessions televised live over the NFL Network, Brady, Faulk and Bruschi offered heartfelt answers to questions about the significance of this game, and what it represents to each of them. For Bruschi, Sunday's game will be the sixth AFC Championship Game in which he has played, dating back to his rookie season of 1996 under then-coach Bill Parcells. He has won four of those games, and gone on to win three Super Bowls, but also endured the ultimate of emotions at the other end of the spectrum when he suffered a stroke not long after playing in Super Bowl XXXIX.

He returned to good health, and now, near the end of his 12th NFL season, he has a chance to return to the pinnacle of his profession. But because he knows he can't play forever, this one may be more precious than the others.

"Absolutely," he said, "I would be the first to tell, I'm not in the beginning of my career any more. I'm in my 12th season and how many can you possibly play? I've had great examples in my career, guys like Roman Phifer who played 15 (seasons), like Willie McGinest, who's still playing, like Junior Seau, who's played 18, and they've taught me a lot of things on how to take care of yourself and how to have longevity in this league.

"But if there's one thing you learn as you get older and you experience season after season after season," he continued, "It's that the bigger the games get, the better feeling you get when you win them because you don't know if you will be back."

Bruschi's pro career began on both a high and low note, because of the heights he reached as a rookie and the rocky course the Patriots had to follow in order to evolve into the dynasty they are today.

"I was in the Super Bowl in 1996 when we lost to the Green Bay Packers," he said. "And you come away with a feeling from that game like, 'man, I'm a part of a great organization, a great team and we're going to go far.' All of a sudden, we're looking for a new head coach and we started down on a downward spiral until we turned it around again."

Bruschi said that experience comes into play at times like this.

"You realize it's a big game, it's the game that gets you to the game that you want to be in," he said. "But you learn how to prepare from your experience. You really try to break down the biggest games you've had in your career to the simplest forms, how do I prepare better to help us do a better job on offense or defense."

Some people react to pressure differently. It's a part of Patriot legend that Brady, just in his second year in the NFL and about to quarterback the Patriots to their first Super Bowl championship in New Orleans against the Rams, took a catnap during the lengthy pre-game show that followed the teams' on-field warmups.

"I was naïve back in the day," Brady said. "My first couple of years, I thought it was easy. I got to the Super Bowl and thought, 'hey, it's no problem, you know start a few games and you're in the Super Bowl.' U2's out there playing on the field, and it was a great environment. "Any time it's the first time, those experiences you have when everything felt it was so out of control, you can look back and realize how much fun it was," he said. "Now you know kind of what to avoid, so you lose a little bit of that naïveté, as Mr. (Robert) Kraft would say."

Brady's repeat appearances in Super Bowls, and his record setting 2007 seasons, have transformed him from the skinny kid from San Mateo to the same sort of larger-than-life figure that he once idolized.

"I always feel, what better job would you ever want," Brady said. "I remember sitting up 10 rows from the top of Candlestick Park, looking down with binoculars at Joe Montana and Steve Young growing up, and I'm thinking I was this kid with a dream, and now all of a sudden, I'm the one on the field. To think back on those days and how this has progressed to the point where it's at, it's extremely fulfilling."

But there has been a less enjoyable side to Brady's fame, and he touched upon that briefly Friday. He didn't refer to the attention given to the breakup of his relationship with actress Bridget Moynahan, her pregnancy and his current estrangement from her as she raises their son while he dates supermodel Gisele Bündchen, but the inference was clearly there - and he said that the locker room has often become his sanctuary.

"In a lot of ways, as you grow older, people who were once part of your life move on to do different things, and there's other people that become even more important in your life, and you share experiences with them and you grow with them," he said. "The people that I trust become less and less. That's why, when I come into this locker room and I come around this environment, whether it's coaches I've been with for eight seasons, or teammates like Kevin Faulk and Tedy Bruschi that have been through a bunch of experiences with me both on the field and off the field I can rely on those guys for anything I may need."

"You enjoy both parts of it," he said. "Like with everything in life, there's give and take. And you've got to understand if there's a take, you've got to give too."

For Faulk, the last legacy of the Pete Carroll-Bobby Grier personnel era, the team represents the same sort of protective, supportive environment as Brady sees it. So when Patriots' coach Bill Belichick announced that Faulk was going to be one of the captains this year, it moved the veteran running back in a profound manner.

"It means so much to me," Faulk said. "It's one of the most important things in my life. When coach announced it, it was such a surprise to me but at the same time, I knew how hard I've worked, and to get to this point throughout my whole career, and being able to hear your name being called as captain was a very special honor."

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com