Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady will head to New England to take on his former team, the Patriots, for the first time since he left the team to sign with Tampa in free agency in 2020.
Brady spent 20 seasons and won six Super Bowls with the Patriots, and admits that he will feel “different kinds of emotions” when he returns to Gillette Stadium this weekend for the first time since leaving New England, where he said he enjoyed “some of the greatest experiences of my life”, according to ESPN’s Jenna Laine.
“I know that locker room, I know that home locker room, I know that home tunnel, I know which way the wind blows, I know everything about that [place],” Brady said, during an appearance on the Lets Go podcast with Jim Gray. “I know the way it smells. I know what a night game’s like, I know what the fans are gonna sound like. So in some ways, that’ll be really unique. I’ve never had that experience going to, you know — it’ll be a first time for me being on the other sideline.
“I’m not going to necessarily reminisce. I don’t think this is the moment for that. I’ll have plenty opportunities to reminisce about my football career — none of it, none of which I really care to do right now because I’m so much in the moment. I’m not going to be thinking about 20 years of history. I’m going to be thinking about one night of football, a Sunday night game coming off a really tough loss.”
Brady expects both teams to be “fighting and clawing for a win” when the clash on Sunday.
“I wouldn’t expect that — a homecoming,” Brady added. “I mean, I think they’re there to root for their team, and their team is the Patriots. I think they’re gonna cheer for their team as I would expect them to, and I think if they know anything about me, they’re gonna know that I’m going out there to try to win the football game, so I think they’ll respect that about me.
“One thing I learned from the Patriots — [Bill] Belichick would say, ‘Listen, if you love football, then, 8:30 on Sunday night at Gillette Stadium is the place to be.'”
Brady would go on to call Belichick a “great mentor”.
“Well I have 20 years — I have 20 years of being there and obviously he’s a great mentor for me,” Brady said of Belichick. “And yes I think there’s definitely great lessons I’ve learned from him. He’s a great football coach, and he does a great job for his team. And, you know any player, I think they would just hope that their coaches give them everything they got. I’m sure every great coach wants every player to give them everything they got. And I think that’s what makes a great relationship.”
Brady also addressed comments his father made last week that he personally felt “vindicated” by his son winning a Super Bowl last season with Tampa Bay and without Belichick.
“I’ve actually prepared a statement that I wanted to say, and it’s really all that I have to say on the subject,” Brady said jokingly. “Comments made by Thomas Edward Brady, a 77-year-old insurance company CEO who should know better at this point in his life, doesn’t necessarily reflect the views or positions held by his son, Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr., so furthermore should Tom Sr. continue to speak out on behalf of his son without the express written consent, Tom Jr. reserves the right to eventually put him in a home against his will. That’s all I have to say.”
