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Throwback Thursday: The Patriots' last trip to Cleveland was an all-time moment in franchise history

Patriots players on the process of breaking in their helmets
Patriots players on the process of breaking in their helmets 04:43

BOSTON -- When it comes to New England football, the Cleveland Browns don't mean much. Outside of firing Bill Belichick in 1996, thus altering the pathways of football history, the Browns and the Patriots have mostly existed in different realms. So this weekend's upcoming matchup may not end up being a monumental moment for anybody involved.

Yet the city of Cleveland is home to one of the more underrated and tremendously significant moments in Patriots franchise history.

It is the site of Day 1 of the Tom Brady Revenge Tour.

The date was Oct. 9, 2016. After a year and a half of fighting the NFL, Tom Brady had finally laid down his arms and accepted his four-game DeflateGate suspension in July of 2016. Even though the case was a sham, even though Roger Goodell and Co. were in the wrong, Brady determined that taking his football fight to the Supreme Court of the United States was probably bad for business. So he sucked it up and took the suspension that had been issued in an effort by the NFL to limit the Patriots' assault on leaguewide parity.

It didn't work.

Not only did the Patriots go 3-1 during Brady's absence, but the NFL also had to deal with a pissed-off Brady for the entirety of the 2016 season. That season ended, of course, with the historic 28-3 comeback over the Falcons in Super Bowl LI, a performance which will be remembered forever.

But it began on a day that, admittedly, has become a bit easier to forget as the years have forged on.

That's understandable. The Browns -- 0-4 at the time -- served as a preseason tune-up of sorts for Brady, who at the time was an ancient 39-year-old QB. He hadn't taken a live rep since the preseason finale, and -- fair or unfair, idiotic or not idiotic -- there were some people who had questions about his abilities. Not only was he much older than just about every successful quarterback in history, but ... was he a cheater? Did that fraction of a PSI really make him the greatest of all time?!

(I was being polite while leaving open the possibility that such questions were not idiotic.)

Whether or not that was inspiring Brady specifically on this day, we can't say for sure. But we can say this.

Just before kickoff, the NFL tweeted this:

A curious move, considering, well ... everything that had taken place between the league and the player over the previous two years.

Nevertheless.

On the Patriots' first offensive drive, following a Cleveland three-and-out, Brady completed his first pass of the game, a 10-yarder to Julian Edelman. Then he hit Rob Gronkowski for 19 yards. Later, facing his first third down of the season, Brady hit Gronk over the middle and let the hulking tight end barrel his way down the field for 34 yards.

LeGarrette Blount scored on a 1-yard touchdown run.

Brady went 4-for-5 for 65 yards on his opening drive.

The Browns surprisingly tied the game with a touchdown drive of their own, before Brady went 4-for-5 for 64 yards, this time hitting Martellus Bennett for a 7-yard touchdown. That touchdown came after Brady had connected with Chris Hogan for 43 yards:

Tom Brady to Chris Hogan in 2016
Tom Brady to Chris Hogan in 2016 GIF from NFL+

Was it the PSI that made Brady so good for so long? Folks, we have to ask the questions.  

Two drives. Two touchdowns. Eight-for-10 for 129 yards and a touchdown pass. It was a decent start.

After the Patriots' defense forced a safety, Brady went 5-for-5 for 56 yards, throwing another touchdown to Bennett to put the Patriots up 23-7. In three possessions, Brady had thrown as many touchdowns as incompletions.

On the Patriots' next drive, Brady hit Hogan again on a deep shot, this time for 63 yards. Once again, it was a thing of beauty.

Tom Brady to Chris Hogan in 2016
GIF from NFL+

That drive ended with a goal-line stand from the Cleveland defense, which stopped Blount twice from the 1-yard line.

Things settled down for a bit, but Brady hit Bennett for a 37-yard touchdown -- Bennett's third score of the day -- to start the third quarter. Though 27 minutes remained in the game, it was over.

This was a day that featured a noticeably large number of Patriots fans invading FirstEnergy Stadium. They all got to see exactly what they wanted.

Brady's final stat line for his first game back from suspension looked like this: 28-for-40, 406 yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 127.7 passer rating. He even ran twice for a total of 14 yards to boot.

But as you know, Brady didn't use one early-October afternoon in Cleveland as a point of validation or vindication in his quest to prove himself. In fact, he was rather nonchalant about it after the 33-13 win.

"I think there was plenty of rust out there," Brady said. "I could do better in a lot of areas."

Brady wouldn't admit that he was playing with extra motivation, after having to watch his team play for the first four weeks of the season.

"This isn't the time for me to reflect. I'm just happy we won today and I'm happy when we win anytime we play. I have a job to do and there is no point in looking back at anything, whether we won Super Bowls or lost championship games. The last four weeks, none of it matters," Brady said. "I tried to go out there and do the best I can do. That's what I try to do every week. It's what I always try to do. I know my teammates expect that of me, and that's what I expect out of them. I expect them to be focused and be able to do their job and focus on what they need to do. That's what they expect out of me."

Asked for any lingering thoughts on DeflateGate, Brady passed on the opportunity.

"I'm just trying to move on," he said. "I'm just trying to play a good game today."  

He wasn't kidding.

He was 29-for-35 (82.9 percent!) for 376 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions the next week against the Bengals, his first home game following the suspension. A week later in Pittsburgh, he was 19-for-26 for just 222 yards but with two touchdowns and no picks. In Buffalo in Week 8, he threw for 315 yards, four touchdowns, and zero picks. 

Through his first four games, he was completing 73.1 percent of his passes, averaging 330 yards per game while throwing 12 touchdowns and zero interceptions. He was on a damn mission.

Coming out of the midseason bye week, he had a tougher showing against the Seahawks, throwing for 316 yards but with no touchdowns and one interception. But he bounced back the next week, when he (somehow) made his first-ever trip to San Francisco as a visiting player. He threw for four touchdowns with no picks in that win.

By the end of the year, Brady had completed 67.4 percent of his passes, averaging 8.23 yards per attempt while throwing 28 touchdowns and just two interceptions. He'd throw a couple of interceptions in the Patriots' divisional round win over the Texans, but he was once again dominant in the AFC Championship Game, throwing for 384 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions. All of that was, of course, the prelude to Super Bowl LI, a game which wasn't perfect by any stretch but became absolutely legendary by the time it concluded. He'd go on to win league MVP at age 40, set a Super Bowl record for passing yards at age 40, win another Super Bowl at 41, and then win another Super Bowl at age 43, in his first year with a new team. And somehow, here in 2022, the man is still ... freaking ... going.

The Tom Brady Revenge Tour may have ended years ago. Or perhaps it's still taking place. It's difficult to discern what exactly is motivating Brady at this moment in time.

Regardless, it all begin with a little trip to Cleveland, for what was a very important day in Patriots -- and football -- history.

Tom Brady
Tom Brady celebrates a touchdown in Cleveland in 2016. Jason Miller / Getty Images

You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.

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