In one of the most anticipated regular season games in history, the New England Patriots are preparing for the reigning world champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday Night Football at Gillette Stadium.
The headline though is Tom vs Bill, as Tom Brady spent 20 years in New England and led them to 13 division titles, 13 AFC Championship game appearances, 10 trips to the Super Bowl, and six Super Bowl wins, before signing a two year deal worth $50 million with Tampa Bay back in March 2020. He led the Bucs to a Super Bowl win over the Kansas City Chiefs in February, the first time Tampa had been in the playoffs since 2007.
New England, who has started 1-2 with their most recent loss 28-13 to the New Orleans Saints last Sunday at home are adjusting to life without Brady and the play of Alabama rookie QB Mac Jones after the release of veteran Cam Newton near the end of training camp. Tampa Bay enters the game with a 2-1 mark with wins over Dallas and Atlanta, and a loss last week to the LA Rams in Los Angeles 34-24. In that game, former Patriot and current Bucs tight end Rob Gronkowski hurt his ribs and will not play in the showdown Sunday night in Foxborough.
Alot of turmoil and rumors surrounding the Brady and Belichick separation in his final days in New England have been highlighted in a new book by Seth Wickersham titled “It’s better to be feared”, with highlights from that writing coming out this week leading up to the game Sunday night. No matter how the game ends up, this will be an emotional night for many fans and should be an interesting chess match between the greatest quarterback to ever play and one of the greatest coaches of all-time in Belichick. It is definitely must watch TV come 8:20 Sunday night on NBC.
