Tom Brady Mailbag: Brady Recalls Facing Patriots Ahead of Stafford's Battle vs. Lions

Tom Brady will be on the call when Matthew Stafford takes on his former team on Sunday, and he knows what it's like to battle a franchise that he was a part of for over a decade.

In the most recent edition of Brady's mailbag, the seven-time Super Bowl winner was asked what it was like to go up against the New England Patriots as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with this weekend's Detroit Lions-Los Angeles Rams game in mind.

"Obviously, when the schedule came out, I circled that date," Brady said of facing the Patriots in 2021. "I was really fired up to go back there because, again, I’ve been in that other locker room, the home locker room, so many times. To go on the road and be in the visiting locker room was a different experience, but I knew every nook and cranny of that stadium. In some ways, it still felt like a fun home game. 

"There was a lot of buildup in the week of practice. Then, in the pregame, when I ultimately got onto the field, I just flipped a switch. It was all about being back out there on that gameday and trying to operate business as usual." 

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As Brady alluded to, his return to Foxborough was highly anticipated, especially for a regular-season game in October. Brady had just led the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl title in his first season with Tampa Bay in the year prior, giving him one more title than the number of championships his former team had.

Brady didn't necessarily have his sharpest outing, though, in his return trip to Foxborough. He completed just 22 of 43 passes for 269 yards and didn't throw a touchdown or an interception. But the Buccaneers were able to get a close victory over the Patriots that day, winning 19-17. 

But as Brady was business as usual on the field that day, the postgame moments were a bit different for him.

"I think the emotions really hit me after the game," Brady said. "I remember there was a really cool sequence in the interview where I was talking about what it meant to be back out there. I remember the press conference after the game was a crowded group of reporters. It just meant a lot because there were so many great memories that you shared in that stadium."

Tom Brady emerged victorious was able to get a victory over his old team when the Buccaneers took on the Patriots in 2021. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)

Stafford won't be playing in the stadium he called home for 12 seasons when the Rams take on the Lions on Sunday, as that game will be held at SoFi Stadium. However, Stafford has already played in Detroit twice since the Rams acquired him in 2021. 

The first of those two trips to Detroit for Stafford came in the 2023 postseason, where the Rams lost a tight battle to the Lions in a wild-card round. The Rams lost to the Lions again in Detroit when they faced them to open the 2024 season, with that loss coming in overtime.

Stafford got some pretty loud boos from the Detroit faithful in both games at Ford Field. But, as Brady, there's only one thing that ultimately matters when you're taking on your former team. 

"I really wanted to get that one," Brady said of his 2021 matchup against the Patriots. "And guess what? We got that one."

Surely, Stafford will feel the same way come Sunday. 

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