Tom Brady's Return To Foxboro Could Be Historic For Yet Another Reason
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Tom Brady is returning to Foxboro with the intention of beating the New England Patriots in Week 4 of the upcoming season. It is a big deal.
Brady, as you may have seen on television or read about on the world wide web, used to play for the Patriots, and he had quite the career. He won a Super Bowl in 2001, and then again in 2003, and then again in 2004 ... and again in 2014, 2016, and 2018. It was pretty cool. He's the greatest player in franchise history and the greatest quarterback to ever play the sport. Books have been written and everything. Crazy, right?
As you might imagine, his return trip to New England is garnering all sorts of attention. Ticket prices are genuinely unfathomable, and the NFL basically has its premier event of the whole season already set in stone for Oct. 3.
While the game will be historic for obvious reasons, it will also mark Brady's first (and, likely only) chance to beat the Patriots, the only NFL team he's never beaten. Coincidentally, it's the only NFL team he's never faced.
But as Pro Football Talk pointed out, it could be historic for another reason -- though it's not yet clear if that opportunity will arise.
PFT's Michael David Smith explained that an NFL record for the largest age gap was set last year when Tom Brady started against Chargers rookie Justin Herbert. Brady was 43 years old; Herbert was 22.
If Mac Jones is the starting QB for the Patriots, then a new record for age gap between starting quarterbacks will be set. That's technically a big if, but early indications seem to at least give the No. 15 overall pick a chance to compete for the starting job in New England over the summer.
Jones was born on Sept. 5, 1998, the same day that Brady and the Michigan Wolverines lost to Notre Dame to start their season 0-1.
Of course, now that Brady's in a league where some players were born after his own NFL debut, such records will be popping up on a near-weekly basis. And as Smith pointed out, Brady could/will break that theoretical record later in the year when/if he goes up against Jalen Hurts (born 1998), and/or Justin Fields (born 1999), and/or Zach Wilson (born 1999).
But it is yet another log to be thrown onto the fire that is the forthcoming Buccaneers-Patriots game. And the fact that we're still talking about Tom Brady not just as an active football player but as the reigning Super Bowl MVP in the year 2021 is just ridiculous, and it's sure to offer countless staggering facts and record-breaking moments like this one for as long as he keeps going.