Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady couldn't contain his excitement with the NFL schedule release, posting on Instagram, "9/9 can't come soon enough" when it was announced the Bucs would play the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL Kickoff Game.
His father, Tom Brady Sr., is eyeing a different game, though -- Week 4, when the Bucs travel to play the New England Patriots, marking his son's return to Foxborough after leading the Bucs to a Super Bowl win in his first season in Tampa after 20 seasons with the Patriots.
"I saw the schedule come out last night, and I started salivating when I saw that we play the Patriots in the fourth game of the season and that we're coming up here to make our record 4-0 after the fourth game," Brady Sr. said on the "Zolak and Bertrand" radio show on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston on Thursday morning.
Shortly after his father's surprise radio appearance, Brady tweeted about the game with a nervous grin, saying, "It's like when your high school friends meet your college friends."
It's like when your high school friends meet your college friends 😬 https://t.co/RF5zVB9rI1
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) May 13, 2021
Brady Sr., who lives in California, called Boston their "second home" and called the Patriots their "second-favorite team," expressing love for the organization and its fanbase. But he didn't mince words, showing the apple doesn't fall far from the tree when it comes to being competitive.
"We expect to beat the Patriots rather handily, frankly," Brady Sr. said.
"It's not a matter of walking out of town and being unhappy. He had a happy 20 years there and most successful 20 years there. Now he's in another place with another opportunity to win. That's great. And the Patriots have reloaded ... " Brady Sr. said.
"From my take on it, I think it's gonna be great. I get to have a favorite team in the AFC and a favorite team in the NFC. And then they play on the fourth week of the year. It's been a really -- I'm thrilled for this."
As far as the possibility of Brady breaking the career passing record (he is currently 1,154 yards behind Drew Brees) in Foxborough, Brady Sr. said, "I think that the fans at Gillette will embrace him until the opening kickoff, and then they're gonna boo the hell out of him, which is great.
"I think the fans appreciate everything he's done. I assume that the fans have appreciated everything he's done for them for 20 years, but at the same time they're Patriots fans, they're not Buccaneers fans. So while you're rooting for Tommy, you're rooting against the Buccaneers."
Brady Sr. expressed great sentiment for his family's time in New England.
"How do you do anything but appreciate everything what the Krafts have done for him, and Belichick has done for him? The coaching staff -- these guys have been in the trenches for 20 years together," Brady Sr. said.
But even Dad isn't clear on how long his son will continue playing. Brady signed a contract extension this offseason to free up cap space -- which was largely responsible for the Bucs being able to return all 22 Super Bowl starters on offense and defense -- and it will keep him in Tampa Bay for two more years. But Father Time waits for no one.
"While he's happy now, I think he's starting to realize that the ... career is coming to an end and he's just savoring every moment as he walks down the final stretches -- whether it's next one year, two years or 12 years," Brady Sr. said.
According to Vivid Seats, the average ticket price for the game on Oct. 3 is $1,370, with prices as high as $12,000 on Ticketmaster.