Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski Talk Facing Bill Belichick And The Patriots For The First Time

• Tom Brady spent 20 years playing for Bill Belichick and the Patriots. Rob Gronkowski spent nine years doing the same.
• This weekend both players return to New England to play the team they won numerous Super Bowls with and talked about it.
• More NFL news here.

Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski have a combined 31 years of NFL experience – all but two of them were spent playing for Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.

Both of them, plus Belichick, will some day be Hall of Famers after winning a combined 17 Super Bowl rings.

On Sunday, Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski return to New England for the first time as their new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on the Patriots and Bill Belichick in a game fans have had circled on their calendar since it was revealed the two teams would collide at Gillette Stadium in Week 4 of the NFL season.

During his weekly appearance on the Let’s Go podcast with Jim Gray, Brady talked about the upcoming matchup with his former boss and what it will be like to return to the place where he spent so much time over the past two decades.

“I know that locker room, I know that home locker room, I know that home tunnel, I know which way the wind blows, I know everything about that [place]. I know the way it smells. I know what a night game’s like, I know what the fans are gonna sound like,” said Brady. “So in some ways, that’ll be really unique. I’ve never had that experience going to, you know — it’ll be a first time for me being on the other sideline.

“I’m not going to necessarily reminisce. I don’t think this is the moment for that. I’ll have plenty opportunities to reminisce about my football career — none of it, none of which I really care to do right now because I’m so much in the moment. I’m not going to be thinking about 20 years of history. I’m going to be thinking about one night of football, a Sunday night game coming off a really tough loss.”

Related: Bill Belichick Has Honest Admission About Why He Thinks Tom Brady Left The Patriots

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Speaking to The Athletic about the reunion, Rob Gronkowski was, an one would expect, a little more emotional and a little less analytical.

“Oh, man, it’s big. For sure,” Gronkowski said earlier this month. “When that week comes, it’s going to feel a lot different than any other week, I would probably say.”

Gronk also added that this year, his second after coming out of retirement, he feels a lot more ready to play.

“I’m rejuvenated to come out here, a new sense of energy,” he said. “A lot of people bring a lot of good energy on the team on both sides of the ball, which is great. To feel refreshed, to have a new rookie year, it feels good. And it gave me the boost to come back (this season).”

Gronkowski added, “You’ve got to relearn the speed of the game. That was huge. The first couple plays, I’m like, oh man, these guys are fast – way faster than I remember. As you adjust more and more, going out to practice more and more, you start getting it back. It definitely was a humbling experience.

“But at the same time, I knew if I just kept working, I’d get back to where I needed to get back to. That’s what happened, I feel like. I had some adjustments to make, had to get my conditioning back, learn the plays. That was one of the biggest things. I feel way more comfortable this year than I did last year because you’re thinking at the line, ‘What do I do? Who do I got? What route do I got?’ When you’re doing that, you really can’t be yourself, either. It just feels good to go out there now this year and be more comfortable and flying around.”

While both players are looking forward to the game, Brady claims he doesn’t expect a hero’s welcome.

“I wouldn’t expect that — a homecoming,” he said. “I mean, I think they’re there to root for their team, and their team is the Patriots. I think they’re gonna cheer for their team as I would expect them to, and I think if they know anything about me, they’re gonna know that I’m going out there to try to win the football game, so I think they’ll respect that about me.”

We will all find out if that’s true come 8:20 p.m. ET Sunday night.