The greatest of all time just broke a huge record, this time in his former home stadium, surrounded by his former teammates and coach.
Record in Emotional Return to Gillette Stadium
On Sunday, Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took on the New England Patriots, the team Brady played for for 18 years. With a little over six minutes remaining in the first quarter, Brady threw a 28-yard pass to wide receiver Mike Evans and officially became the NFL’s all-time passing leader.
The completion gave Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion, 80,358 passing yards to surpass Drew Brees’ three-year-old record. Brady finished the game with 269 passing yards, setting the new all-time record at 80,560 yards.
Brees stood on the sidelines dressed in a suit and watched Brady break his record, applauding his good friend when the job was done. “I’m a firm believer that records are meant to be broken,” he said.
The Show Goes On
There was no huge celebration. The game was not even stopped to commemorate this momentous achievement from one of the greatest players to ever step onto a football field.
The commentator announced the breaking of the record, and a brief photo slideshow featuring Brady was shown on the screen, and that’s it. The game went on.
In his postgame conference, Brady talked about what the record meant to him. “I just think it’s an amazing statistic in that so many people can share in it with me,” he said, “Passing yards have to be caught, so I just hope that everybody who caught passes from me over the years just had a little smile on their face tonight knowing they contributed to a very cool record.”
The greatest of all time continued, “There are some people who have kind of preceded it by name. Drew Brees, who I look up to, is a hell of a guy, great player. Peyton Manning, one of my all-time favorites, Brett Favre, Dan Marino, but obviously, my teammates who caught all these passes over the years mean an awful lot to me.”
Beating His Former Team
This game was a huge one for Brady, as it was his first time facing off against Bill Belichick and the Patriots since joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He beat his former team in a close 19-17 game, and this win made him one of only four quarterbacks in history to beat every team in the NFL. The other three are Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees.
Even though he was returning to Gillette Stadium wearing a different jersey, Brady was still honored by the fans who watched him for almost 20 years. He ran onto the field, greeted by an overwhelming amount of cheers. Before the game, a brief highlight reel honoring Brady’s illustrious career played on the stadium screen.
“That was pretty cool,” Brady said, “It’s been my home for 20 years. I have the best memories. My kids were born here. It’s just a great town, a great city, a great area. I love it up here.”
Sunday’s game was a huge one for Tom Brady for a plethora of reasons. He got the chance to face his former team, he broke the all-time passing yards record, and the win made him one of only four quarterbacks in history to beat every team in the NFL. This man certainly has nothing to prove to anyone, and this huge win further cemented Tom Brady’s permanent place in football history.
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