Tom Brady will return to New England Sunday night for the first time since leaving the Patriots. (Photo courtesy: Dan Bickley, Arizona Sports)
Tom Brady is set to return to Gillette Stadium this coming Sunday for the first time since leaving the Patriots in 2020 and the big question is: how will New England fans react? I believe that the crowd at the stadium will treat Brady with cheers and applause since he gave them six Super Bowl championships and made sure the Patriots were always competitive. This matchup between Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers against Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots is one that we have never seen before, and it will be the first time that a quarterback and coach duo will face off against each other for the first time in history. One of the only other times this has almost happened was when the legendary Joe Montana left the San Francisco 49ers and went to the Kansas City Chiefs. However, by the time he would play against the Niners as a Chief, his head coach with San Francisco, Bill Walsh, had already departed.
While the game itself should be fascinating, there have already been a lot of fireworks this week because of revelations about what had reportedly led to Brady leaving the Patriots. An in-depth article on ESPN.com came out this week talking about a new book called It’s Better to be Feared by ESPN senior writer Seth Wickersham, Wickersham explained some of the main reasons that the relationship between Brady and Belichick went south and what led to Brady departing. The first big news that came out of this article was that Brady had reportedly wanted to say goodbye to his coach in-person. However, Belichick was insistent on saying goodbye over the phone. According to Wickersham, that was an indicator to Brady about how much their relationship had deteriorated over the years. Brady has a right to be upset in this situation considering that he was the face of the Patriots for 19 years and kept them in contention year in and year out, even when the receivers around him were not great.
One of the other big points that came from the article was that while part of the reason that Brady left was because Belichick and Kraft refused to commit to him with a contract lasting until he was 45 years old, but also because Belichick thought that Brady was almost done. It would be hard to imagine thinking that Belichick thought that Brady was towards the end of his career. However, it would not be surprising because historically Bill has not been afraid to get rid of a player and replace them even if it comes as a shock to the public.
The article continues to explain how Brady felt that he was not having as much say in front office decisions as he now does with the Buccaneers. This makes sense considering that Brady never got a long-term extension when in New England. Instead, he always took a pay cut to help the team sign more talent around him, but this usually was not used by the Patriots to get big time free agent wide receivers. This is a theme in the NFL because players have noticed what has happened in the NBA where star players can get a say in front office decisions so now star NFL players have taken notice and are now demanding the same thing.
These themes were also echoed by Brady’s trainer Alex Guerrero when he spoke to the Boston Herald and explained how Belichick never evolved as a coach and that Brady did not feel welcome by the Patriots towards the end. Guerrero is partially correct here because Belichick has not evolved with how today’s players are brought up with social media, and he needs to be more patient with the players since a lot of them tend to be more sensitive than in prior generations. However, if you ask the fans in New England, I believe that Brady would have always been welcomed to stay. I think that what ultimately led to Brady leaving was not getting a long-term extension, plus over time a relationship for 19 years does not stay the same as it once was, and the Patriots did not have a good receiving core around him and Tampa Bay already had a great supporting cast in place. Also, I believe that Brady wanted to be able to prove that he could win without Belichick.
It should be very interesting to see how Brady gets treated when he returns to New England for the first time as a visiting player on Sunday night.