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For the first time in his career, Brady ran to Gillette Stadium – home of the New England Patriots – from a guest locker room.
Returning home 20 years later, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback got one over his former team and former coach Bill Belichick, winning a heavy rain 19-17.
It was fitting that when he returned home to the scene where he falsified his name, arguably the greatest quarterback in history, Brady overtook Drew Brees to become the NFL’s all-time leader.
The 44-year-old reached a milestone with a 28-yard pass to Mike Evans in the first quarter.
“I think it’s just an amazing statistic because so many people can share it with me,” Brady told reporters after the game.
“The quarterback doesn’t throw them and gets caught, the quarterback can just throw it. The skipped yards have to be caught, so I just hope everyone who has gotten past me over the years had a little smile on their lips tonight knowing they had contributed to a very fine record.
“Some people have progressed on it … Drew Brees, whom I consider the guy of hell, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Dan Marino, but of course my teammates who got all these passports over the years mean an awful lot to me,” Brady added.
Victory added a new entry to Brady’s endless record log – he’s now only the fourth quarterback in history to have won all 32 NFL teams by joining Favree, Brees and Manning.
Patriots striker Nick Folk was just a few inches away from depriving Brady of homage and ruining the home team. His 56-minute field goal in less than a minute was painfully over the crossbar.
“Nothing is really accurate in what I ever see”
In preparing for the game, Brady was indifferent to his feelings about returning to face the team he left as a free agent in 2020.
Brady won six Super Bowls with Belichick in two decades, but Buccaneer has since secured the seventh ring. Before Sunday’s game, quarterback father – Tom Brady Sr. – had spoken of his son’s latest Super Bowl success, which was proof of the Patriots ’abandonment.
Brady referred to Belichik as a “great mentor” before returning to Foxborough, but questioned speculation about the couple’s relationship at the post-match press conference.
“We had a personal relationship for over twenty years. He drafted me here, had a lot of personal conversations that should stay that way and that are very private,” Brady said.
“I would say so much has been done about our relationship, and as I said earlier this week, you expect the player to give you everything he has.
– I’m sure as a player that he wanted it from me, but nothing is really accurate about what I ever see – it’s really not because of my personal feelings or beliefs.
“I respect him as a coach a lot and I respect this organization and all the people here who are trying to make it a success,” Brady added.
thank you for the memories
The 44-year-old was welcome to cheer at Gillette Stadium and was awarded a one-minute pre-reel prelude.
“It was pretty cool,” Brady told NBC when asked about reception before the game.
“It’s been my home for 20 years. I have the best memories. My kids were born here. It’s just a great city, a great city, a great area. I love it here.
“I have so many people with whom I have relationships, but this was about this team coming here to win. This wasn’t about one player. This was about our whole team going down the road to winning a good team.
“Yeah, they encouraged me a little, but in the end they encouraged their team and of course they wanted the Patriots to go through.”
A win for Brady and the Buccaneers will take them to a 3-1 record before their home game against the Miami Dolphins next Sunday, while the Belichick Patriots plan to reverse the turn at the start of season 1-3 when they visit Houston Texans.
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