FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — As if Tom Brady’s return to New England needed any more hype.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, who led the New England Patriots to nine Super Bowls and won six of them, returns to his old stomping grounds Sunday night at Gillette Stadium. Brady, who led Tampa Bay to a Super Bowl title during his first season with the Buccaneers last season, released a video on Twitter ahead of Sunday’s game.
Labeled simply “Homecoming,” the 55-second video walks through Brady’s career as a sixth-round draft pick of the Patriots, with voice-overs from his six Super Bowl titles in New England. The video ends with Brady, now 44, walking across the deck of the Buccaneers’ pirate ship at Raymond James Stadium, with another voice-over by rapper Jay-Z: “Allow me to reintroduce myself ...”
The Patriots have issued 506 media credentials for Sunday night’s game, ESPN reported. Of that total, 262 credentials were issued for NBC, which is broadcasting the game.
In comparison, the Patriots issued 206 total media credentials for New England’s season-opener against the Miami Dolphins on Sept. 12, with 70 going to CBS, which aired the game, ESPN reported. Last week against New Orleans, the Patriots issued 215 credentials, with 60 going to Fox, which broadcast the game.
While Brady played 20 seasons in New England, he said now is not a time to get sentimental. Tampa Bay (2-1) is coming off a loss to the Los Angeles Rams, while New England (1-2) fell to the Saints in Week 3.
“I’m not going to necessarily reminisce,” Brady told Jim Gray on the SiriusXM “Let’s Go!” podcast, CNN reported. “I don’t think this is the moment for that. I’ll have plenty of 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.”
Brady only needs 68 yards to set the NFL career passing yardage record, ESPN reported. Brady has 80,291 passing yards, chasing the record of 80,358, held by former New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees.