When Tom Brady walks out of the visitors’ locker room on Sunday night in Foxborough, the memories of the previous two decades will pour back into our brains like a deluge of water.
It’s a homecoming for the best quarterback of his generation, and perhaps the greatest of all time, as he returns to the spot where it all started.
After traveling to New England to face the Patriots on Sunday night, we’ll all be feeling the emotions that accompanied the team’s departure.
Brady returns to the field after his departure from the New England Patriots and his relationship with Bill Belichick made headlines.
Before the publication of “It’s Better to be Feared,” a book by Seth Wickersham that delves into the Patriots’ dynasty and Tom Brady’s subsequent departure to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in free agency after 20 years in a Patriots uniform, excerpts from the book have been making the rounds on social media.
Throughout the book, Wickersham claims that Belichick refused to meet with Brady in person to do Brady’s exit interview, instead preferring to conduct it over the phone.
“No, that’s not true,” Belichick said Wednesday when asked if he declined to meet with Brady prior to his departure. “There are a few things about this book; it sounds like it’s a lot of second-, third- and fourth-hand comments. I’m not going to get into that. I’m going to focus on this game and try to prepare for the Bucs.”
Brady — not one to publicly criticize the Patriots organization — took the high road on Thursday, saying that his departure was “handled perfectly.”
“All those things are super personal,” Brady said in his weekly press conference on Thursday.
“We had a great relationship. Everything was handled the right way. We handled everything as gracefully as we could. It was an amazing time, it was handled perfectly. I think everyone understood where we were at — the people involved in the situation. Things worked out the best for all of us.”
But don’t think for a second that Brady will be thinking about his time in New England when he takes the field Sunday.
“I’m just going to try to do what I always do: Go be a great quarterback,” Brady said. “Obviously, I understand the opponent. I know all those guys. They’re some of my great friends, [and] they will be for the rest of my life. I know a lot of coaches, players, the owners, the staff. It will be great to see everyone after the game, but up until the game I’m focused on trying to go win a football game.”
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