Tom Brady is no different than most superstar athletes. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to improve his performance on the field. The past few years, that’s even meant using innovative methods to keep his brain in top shape.

With the help of his longtime “body coach” Alex Guerrero, who has kept the Patriots quarterback’s physique finely tuned, Brady has undergone extensive testing and state-of-the-art brain training geared toward sharpening his decision-making skills.

The operating manager of Brady’s TB12 Sports Therapy Center at Patriot Place, Guerrero said Brady is one of many athletes he trains who are now utilizing the technology.

As a baseline measure, Brady underwent a functional neuro-cognitive image (FNCI) — or brain scan — that consisted of a half-dozen different cognitive tests.

“Based on those, we’re able to see what part of his brain is either overworked, or under-worked and what we need to focus on to put those areas of his brain back into normal range,” Guerrero said. “We know what normal looks like. We know how efficient his brain should be in certain areas as it relates to his sport and his position. So we look at his brain, we see where we’re lacking or overcompensating, and where he’s deficient.”

The technology is such that Guerrero can devise cognitive exercises specifically geared to anyone, be it an NFL quarterback, or a CEO of a large corporation. In Brady’s case, the exercises honed in on what happens after a play is radioed in, and the swiftness with which he must process the information, read the defense, and get everyone on the same page, especially if adjustments need to be made at the line of scrimmage.

Said Guerrero: “We can make (the exercises) position specific, sports specific and be able to train the brain to do what we want it do to.”

So after the deficient areas in Brady’s brain were identified, the nine-time Pro Bowler began doing the appropriate exercises to get back into what is considered the median range. That’s helped the Patriots quarterback become even more adept at reacting and making the necessary split-second decisions.

“His physical skills, his technique of being able to throw the football and his physical fitness are always going to be there,” Guerrero said of Brady. “For him, it’s more a matter of staying sharp, of having his mind right. It’s decision-making, and all of that is based on the cognitive exercises Tom does.”

During a radio interview on WEEI’s “Dennis & Callahan Show” last week, Brady asserted that decision-making is the most important trait a quarterback needs to be successful in the NFL.

“The quarterback position, in general, really affects the game a lot because you’ve got the ball in your hands more than anybody else. So if you make poor decisions with the football, then you really don’t give your team a chance to win the game,” Brady said on WEEI. “If you’re careless with the ball, if you’re not throwing the ball to the right places, if you’re making wrong checks at the line of scrimmage, then the rest of the team really has no chance.”

While arm strength, accuracy and physical ability are key skills cited in scouting reports, there is no doubt that mental acuity is just as important to a quarterback. The way defenses scheme nowadays, quarterbacks need the ability to processes information incredibly fast.

Guerrero indicated the exercises are geared toward speeding up visual processing and verbalization skills, as well as enhancing memory. Brady became involved with this type of cognitive fitness training and engaging in brain games a few years ago, when he thought his processing of information on a play-by-play basis could be faster.

Said Guerrero: “He’s very perceptive. He knows himself so well. So we found the problem. He said, ‘How do we fix it?’ . . . So we did.

“And he’s noticed a big difference.”

The FNCI is also helpful with athletes who suffer concussions, as former Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker has also used the technology. After a scan targeted his areas that were overworked or underworked, Guerrero mapped out appropriate exercises for improvement.

“The idea behind this, for us, is the health of the brain, and brain resiliency,” Guerrero said. “We know it’s there. We know what we have. We’ve been doing it with Tom for several years. Now we’re doing it with everybody because it’s been so effective.”

Brady already was considered one of the quickest-thinking quarterbacks in the game before he started brain training. Now, he’s that much better.

“The decision-making part comes so natural for him,” Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola said. “That’s what makes this offense go, and what’s made him so successful in the past, his ability to see the coverages that (opponents are) not only going to line up in, but roll to after the snap. He always gets everyone lined up in the right position, and gets everyone on the same page.”

Former Patriots center Dan Koppen, who has played with both Brady and Peyton Manning, believes he’s been with two of the most cerebral quarterbacks of all time.

“I just know playing with those two, that their decision making and their ability to pull the trigger pretty quickly is right up there among the best,” Koppen said. “They put themselves in the best situation to make plays. They know what the defense is going to do. They know what they need to do to beat that specific defense. Nine times out of 10, I’d say Tom knows where he’s going with the ball before the ball is snapped, and that just helps everybody. And, given the defenses and the athletes you have now, the quicker you can process stuff and get rid of the ball, the better off you’re going to be.”

Jimmy G ‘used to it’

We recently caught up with former Eastern Illinois coach Dino Babers, who coached Jimmy Garoppolo in college. During a prior conversation with Babers, he had predicted his former protege would provide some “wow” moments for those watching him during Patriots training camp and the preseason.

“He grows on you, doesn’t he?” Babers said with a laugh.

Asked why Garoppolo has looked so good, so poised in his first NFL games, Babers, now the head coach at Bowling Green, said it’s because he’s comfortable in the job. He was a four-year starter at the FCS school.

Said Babers: “He’s played a lot of games as a starting quarterback. So he’s used to being in the huddle, he’s used to taking command in the huddle. He’s used to moving the chains and in trying to throw to the end zone. For a lot of people, that should be a stressful situation. For him, that’s a normal situation.” . . .

As the Patriots continue to play tight end roulette, some will continue to wonder why they didn’t draft one. A name that came up as a possibility was Iowa’s C.J. Fiedorowicz. Texans coach Bill O’Brien, the former Pats offensive coordinator, nabbed him in the third round instead.

O’Brien talked about the potential of the 6-foot-5, 265-pound tight end last week.

“We like what we see in him,” O’Brien told the Houston Chronicle. “We’ve got to change his hands a little bit on how he catches those balls, but we’ll work on that a little bit more with him. . . . He’s a big, strong, physical player and an intelligent player for a rookie. He has come in and learned the system well.”

As a Hawkeye, Fiedorowicz caught 91 passes for 899 yards and 10 touchdowns — including a team-leading six last season.

Scott’s pick: Vick

CBS analyst and former Jets linebacker Bart Scott said Michael Vick is a better option at quarterback than Geno Smith if Gang Green wants to win now.

What does Jets coach Rex Ryan think of Scott’s assertion?

“That’s one man’s opinion and Bart, obviously, had to chase Mike Vick around for a long time, so he’s got a different perspective maybe than other people,” Ryan told the New York media last week. “But certainly, Bart has a right to his opinion. And we’ve said it all along, we think we have two outstanding quarterbacks and we want to have, when it’s all said and done, two great quarterbacks.”

But does Ryan believe he has two great quarterbacks now?

“I don’t know if we can say that yet,” Ryan responded, “but I think (in) time we’ll be able to tell that.”

Yellow will mellow

Many analysts still believe the torrent of preseason penalty flags will eventually slow and we won’t see regular-season games extended as long as 31⁄2 hours because of the new emphasis on defensive holding and illegal contact.

“Once the dust settles, it’s going to be a typical game,” SiriusXM NFL radio host and former Patriots quarterback Jim Miller told the Herald. “I think all of these officials are going to knock it off. The game is packaged so well to broadcast for three hours and six minutes, and right now they’re running about 31⁄2, which is too long. The networks are going to start screaming. They’re going to tell the NFL, ‘You’ve got to stop it. We can’t get these doubleheader games in if you continue to call games like this.’ ”