Tom Brady has admitted that he experienced a wide range of emotions before and during Sunday night’s game against the New England Patriots, but the seven-time Super Bowl champion says one aspect of his return to Foxboro really stuck out.
During the latest episode of his SiriusXM podcast “Let’s Go!” with Jim Gray, Brady revealed his favorite part of returning to Gillette Stadium as a visiting player. He said it came after the final whistle blew in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 19-17 win.
“I got to see some people after the game that I just love so much. The best part of the night was having the game over and seeing them,” Brady said, as transcribed by WEEI’s Ryan Hannable. “And understanding that no matter how we compete, my relationship with those people transcends wins and losses. … The hugs, the handshakes, the congratulatory messages, all the different things that I heard really in the end to me is what continues to motivate me and inspire me.”
Brady also said it wasn’t fun playing against veterans like Kyle Van Noy, Dont’a Hightower, Matthew Slater and Devin McCourty, whom he described as “amazing people that I’ve gone to war with.”
“The reality is, sports, sometimes you go different places and now you’re on the other side of it and on the other sideline,” Brady added. “You want those guys to do so well because you know how important it is to them. You know how much it means to them.”
A lot was made about Brady’s relationship with Bill Belichick and how the 44-year-old would have loved to throttle his former team, but that didn’t happen. Brady led the Bucs to a hard-fought win, but no one wound up embarrassed. He even caught up with his former coach for a lot longer than people expected him to. In many ways, the night probably went exactly how Brady wanted it to.
