New England Patriots fans have a lot to get excited about this week. Week 1 of the 2023 season, potentially one of the most intriguing, pivotal and defining seasons for a storied franchise looking to regain its winning ways, has arrived. Soon so will the defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles, a Super Bowl contender loaded with talent on both sides of the ball, ready to make a statement on a huge stage in front of a massive nationally televised audience.
Heck, it’s also Week 1 for everyone else, and football that counts begins Thursday night with the Detroit Lions visiting the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Yes, football is back. The Patriots are back! And so is Tom Brady.
Excitement for the return of the king, the six-time champion of Foxboro (sure, he won seven, but we’ll focus on his six for New England), the greatest player in Patriots if not all NFL history, will be ramping up to a full-blown fever pitch this Sunday. Brady is being honored by the team he spent 20 seasons with this Sunday. As to what the team has planned for him, that remains a secret of Belichickian pregame proportions. But the nostalgia, memories and tributes have already begun pouring in.
It’s the “Thank You Tom Game” Sunday, which will have Gillette Stadium, the surrounding lots, regional bars, fancaves and viewing destinations all throughout New England and Pats Nation rocking not only for their team, but equally if not more for the long overdue victory lap and tribute to their hero. Tickets to the game have been the most coveted and expensive on the secondary market for months, and with all due respect to Mac Jones, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Christian Gonzalez, the demand has surged for an opportunity to bask again in the glory of the GOAT.
Pats fans never really had the chance to thank the man who brought two decades worth of joy, relevance and championship-caliber play to the region and fanbase. His final game with the team, a Wild Card defeat at home in Jan. 2020 to former teammate Mike Vrabel’s Tennessee Titans, ended sadly and with a whimper, far from a fitting farewell for a living legend who dominated for decades. Since departing New England, he has returned to his former stomping grounds once, an intense, emotional and partly acrimonious affair for some as Brady brought his then-defending Super Bowl-champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers back to town to take on rookie Mac Jones and the Pats.
Brady escaped a hard fought and rain soaked affair with a narrow victory, but not the full-throttled tribute he so richly deserves.
Now comes the organizational reconnection after failing to finish his career in the same uniform he donned when drafted back in April 2000.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft wanted Brady to sign a one-day contract for a ceremonial retirement in a Pats uniform, but that never came to be. Instead now he and his “other son” will reunite in front of tens of thousands in Foxborough, and tens of millions worldwide, not to mention the entire Brady family, for the appreciation and adulation someone of Brady’s stature and accomplishment deserves. Word is this will be a multi-year celebration. Nothing confirmed beyond this Sunday’s tribute, but jersey retirements, statues and more are likely to follow.
There will be videos, and likely fireworks, surprises, tears, screams, chants and more. None among us would be surprised if the halftime stretches longer than normal, perhaps not to Super Bowl lengths but beyond the normal 12 minutes (appropriate!). It’s impossible to pick just any one favorite Brady game, throw, win or memory for some, but why worry about that? Just soak up all the positivity of the man who raised every standard in New England, not to mention six banners, during his time here. During a time when fans are uncertain as to how the team will fare in a highly competitive AFC East, one thing they can bank on is a tidal wave of memories and nostalgic bliss. “Brady’s back!”
Critics may say that this is a distraction from the difficulties the team has had getting back on the winning track Brady had the team on for so long working with coach Bill Belichick. That New England has but a glorious recent past to live in, and an uncertain future at hand. Perhaps then there is no better time for Patriots fans to “Ignore the noise” and do their job, of rooting on their favorite team and their greatest player, letting him know just how much he meant for all those years, all those games, all those championships. The catharsis of finally saying “Thank you Tom” may be what the fans and team need to close the book on an unprecedented run and truly turn the page to the future of football in Foxborough.
We’ll find out starting Sunday. But for now…bust out your 12’s, read all the coverage, watch the countless videos, get lubed and LFG. Brady Week is here, and the GOAT is coming home. You deserve this! And so does he.
