On Sunday, Tom Brady returns to Foxborough for the first time since leaving the New England Patriots to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It’s going to be an emotional and important day for Patriots fans, who will likely welcome back the guy at the center of six Super Bowl championships, at least until the game starts.
For his part, Brady isn’t here just to get some cheers and ovations. He’s as motivated as ever to continue winning (and might try to do so for years to come). While in town, there’s a pretty decent chance that he’s going to add another bullet point to his Hall of Fame resume, ironically against the team that he played so long for.
Brady will enter this game with 80,291 career passing yards, which is a mere 68 yards behind Drew Brees for the most in NFL history. Given that Brady has thrown for 276, 379, and 432 yards (averaging 362.3) in the Bucs’ first three games, it’s a pretty fair prediction to assume he’ll break that record on Sunday against the Pats.
As for when he’ll break the mark, that’s the tricky part for gamblers who are almost certainly wondering. Brady averages 7.7 yards per attempt, which would put the over/under at 8.5 attempts before he breaks it. That certainly sounds like something he could do in the first quarter. Heck, depending on how things start, he could even pull that off by the end of the first offensive drive.
The real details surrounding the negotiations and backroom discussions between Brady, Bill Belichick, and Patriots owner Robert Kraft are marked in secrecy for now (despite what Belichick might say). But we’d have to imagine it’s going to feel pretty good for Brady to notch this record against the franchise that didn’t do whatever it took to keep him in their uniform for the duration of his career.