Tom Brady made an emotional return to New England on Sunday as he declared himself a \u201cPatriot for life.\u201d <\/p>\n
Brady retired from professional football earlier this year after spending three seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but the three-time NFL MVP will always be remembered for his time in New England with the Patriots. <\/p>\n
While playing for the Patriots, Brady was able to bring six Super Bowl titles to New England and turned the franchise into a footballing powerhouse. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Tom Brady announced his retirement after 23 NFL seasons, there was only one place I wanted him to be on opening day \u2013 right here at Gillette Stadium with 65,000 fans,\u201d said Patriots owner Robert Kraft as he introduced Brady to the packed-out venue for a special half-time ceremony during the match against the Philadelphia Eagles to honor the quarterback. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn the 103-year history of the NFL, nearly 27,000 players have appeared in games, and we know the greatest one ever to play in that time is right here in Tom Brady.\u201d <\/p>\n
Once the applause and cheers had finally died down, Brady was able to address those in attendance. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat run out was a little longer today than it used to be \u2013 I\u2019m not quite in game shape but it\u2019s impossible for me to be in this stadium, full of you amazing fans, with some of the best teammates, with my family and all my friends, and not run out like I did for 20 years,\u201d Brady told the New England crowd as he received an effusive reception from the crowd. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was so fortunate to be drafted here two decades ago \u2013 23 years to be exact \u2013 not even knowing where New England was on the map and not that we put it on the map, but I think a lot more people in the US know where the New England Patriots play.\u201d <\/p>\n
Brady set nearly every imaginable franchise passing record with the Patriots, leading the team to 17 division titles and 219 regular-season wins. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll our lives take us on different journeys, they take us to different places, they bring different people into our lives but one thing I am sure of and that will never change is that I am a Patriot for life,\u201d said Brady. <\/p>\n
Kraft also announced that he will be waiving the four-year wait period to be inducted into the Patriots\u2019 Hall of Fame and Brady will be inducted in a first of its kind ceremony at Gillette Stadium next year. <\/p>\n
\u201cI love you guys so much, and I\u2019ll see you next summer,\u201d Brady concluded. <\/p>\n
The Patriots haven\u2019t won a Super Bowl since Brady departed and the team\u2019s opening NFL game of the 2023\/2024 season ended in defeat as the Philadelphia Eagles departed the Gillette Stadium with a 25-20 victory. <\/p>\n
The Eagles got off to a flying start when Darius Slay intercepted Mac Jones\u2019 attempted pass. Philadelphia\u2019s cornerback charged down the field to score a touchdown off the 70-yard interception. <\/p>\n
DeVonta Smith added a touchdown late on in the first quarter from a Jalen Hurts pass as Philadelphia took a 16-0 lead after the opening 15 minutes. <\/p>\n
The Patriots rallied with a 14-point second quarter. Touchdowns from Hunter Henry and Kendrick Bourne, both from Jones passes, brought the Patriots within two points of the Eagles and a potential turnaround. <\/p>\n
However, following the break, Eagles kicker Jake Elliott piled on another nine points to the Eagles\u2019 tally to make it 25-14 and put Philadelphia in complete control. <\/p>\n
The Patriots weren\u2019t completely done and Bourne added a second touchdown from another Jones pass but it wasn\u2019t to be enough as the Eagles held on to a precious opening game win. <\/p>\n\n
Tom Brady made an emotional return to New England on Sunday as he declared himself a \u201cPatriot for life.\u201d Brady retired from professional football earlier this year after spending three seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but the three-time NFL MVP will always be remembered for his time in New England with the Patriots. While <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8283","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}