For the entire week, the world of football has been buzzing about Tom Brady’s return to Foxboro and his matchup with rookie QB Mac Jones. But apparently, the Bucs QB hasn’t made much of his successor.
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Tonight’s SNF game is all set to bring in crazy viewership numbers. Tom Brady’s fabled return to his hunting ground of 20 incredible years is showing all the signs of unfolding dramatically.
Apart from the obvious fact that the greatest player in NFL history is going against the greatest coach in NFL history, with whom he built the greatest dynasty in NFL history, there’s also been the added drama of an upcoming book that has revealed how relationships within the Patriots organization had deteriorated badly.
According to the book’s author, Seth Wickersham, things got ugly between Bill Belichick and Tom Brady towards the end of their 20 year run. It appears that Brady, who often took team friendly contracts unlike other star QBs around the league, was unhappy that he didn’t have a more significant say in how to spend the money that was saved.
The excerpts from the book also claim that when Brady was leaving New England and wanted to say goodbye to his head coach, Bill Belichick declined to meet him and they spoke over the phone instead.
If it wasn’t clear before, it definitely is now: while things might have going well on the field, there was undeniable tension between Brady and Belichick off of it. Tonight’s game is more than just another regular season matchup.
Tom Brady on Mac Jones: “I Haven’t Seem Him Much At All”
Another big storyline heading into the much-awaited homecoming game is the showdown between Brady and rookie QB Mac Jones, who the Patriots selected 15th overall in the draft this year and chose to stick with over former league MVP Cam Newton.
As soon as Jones became a Patriot in April, fans and the media alike have drawn comparisons between him and Brady. Both players have, in some sense, similar playing styles and the team obviously hopes that Jones will succeed Brady as the next great franchise QB.
But according to Brady himself, he hasn’t got a chance to take a look at his “successor” through the first 4 weeks of the season. Speaking to reporters after Bucs practice who asked what he has made of Mac Jones so far, Brady coldly said, “I haven’t seen him much at all. Yeah.”, and immediately moved on to the next question.
Now while this might not seem like a big deal, Brady’s tone suggests otherwise. In an age where every athlete is media trained, he might’ve answered something along the lines of “he has potential” or some other form of vague praise.
However, he specifically declined to do so. Even when he was asked to say his his favorite thing about Bill Belichick, he once again brushed past the question and threw appreciation at various other people instead.
From this presser, it really looks like Brady is keen to not give off the impression of this being a friendly visit to Foxboro, because knows that it won’t be.
