Tom Brady is heading back into a place loaded with memories, and this time he’ll be doing it from the broadcast booth.
FOX Sports’ color commentator will be on the call Sunday when the Patriots host the Packers at Gillette Stadium in a Week 9 matchup, giving New England fans their first chance in a while to hear him work a game involving the team he led for two decades. For plenty of Patriots supporters, that alone is a big deal. For others, it’s also a chance to see whether Brady can finally warm up some feelings that have cooled in recent years.
That’s because the relationship between Brady and Patriots fans has been a little strained lately. He said earlier this year that he had “no dog in the fight” when asked to make his Super Bowl pick, even with the Patriots in the Championship game.
That comment stuck. So have the optics of him being a minority owner of the Raiders, along with the sense among many fans that he’s been trying to put some distance between himself and the franchise that made him the greatest of all time.
Still, Brady sounded genuinely eager when he talked this week about returning to Foxborough.
Speaking with Colin Cowherd, he described just how much the stadium still means to him.
"It’ll be certainly emotional. I mean every inch of that stadium I’ve been through so many times, from the locker rooms to the meeting rooms to the field.
There are just so many memorable plays in that stadium, big games, championship games and rivalry games. Division-clinching games."
He added:
"It’ll be certainly emotional…to really understand what that Patriot organization is all about and to convey that to the fans in a way where I’m not talking about myself, I’m really talking about this awesome program that’s been built."
That’s a pretty different tone from the one fans have gotten used to hearing lately, and it should at least give New England a little hope that Sunday’s broadcast will feel more like a celebration than a source of frustration.
There’s also a little extra incentive for the Patriots to put on a show. Brady hands out the LFG Award to the game’s best player, and if Drake Maye and the Patriots have their best performance yet, fans would get the added bonus of watching Brady hand that trophy to the current franchise quarterback.
That would go a long way toward easing some of the lingering irritation over Brady’s recent lack of public praise for the team. And the weekend already has another Brady connection baked in: longtime teammate Rob Gronkowski is set to be inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame on Saturday, with a chance Brady could be there too.
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Patriots Suddenly Have A Bigger Problem Than Just One Blowout
The Patriots loss to the Packers was ugly enough on its own, but the bigger concern is how much it exposed two of the teams most important young players. Drake Maye had one of the roughest outings of his season, throwing three interceptions before being benched, while Christian Gonzalez was picked apart in coverage and gave up a career-high 187 receiving yards. For a team trying to build around its quarterback and its top corner, that kind of setback lands harder than a single bad Sunday.
Mike Vrabel did not hide his disappointment afterward, and he made it clear the standard has to be higher across the board. The Patriots can live with growing pains, but they cannot afford to have foundational pieces unravel at the same time, especially in a game that slipped away so quickly. What happens next with Maye and Gonzalez will matter just as much as the final score, because the franchise needs both players to look like cornerstones, not question marks. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Hit A Frustrating Reality Check In Green Bay
A trip to Green Bay brought a harsh reminder of how quickly things can unravel for a young Patriots team still trying to find its footing. New England fell 45-27, dropped to 5-4, and spent much of the afternoon chasing a game that tilted badly after Drake Maye threw three first-half interceptions, helping the Packers turn those mistakes into 14 points off turnovers.
The defensive problems were just as hard to ignore, with Christian Gonzalez enduring a rough day in coverage and the Patriots failing to create any takeaways of their own. To make matters worse, the injury list grew as Ben Brown, Will Campbell, Carlton Davis, Brenden Schooler and Rhamondre Stevenson all left the game, leaving New England with more questions than answers as it heads into the next stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Tom Bradys Foxborough Return Just Created A Collectible Patriots Moment
Tom Bradys first turn as a broadcaster for a Patriots game in Foxborough on Nov. 8, 2026 came with an extra twist for collectors, as the former quarterback used the moment to help unveil a Topps NOW trading card tied to his return. During the broadcast, Brady signed the card live and held it up for viewers, turning a routine booth appearance into something that instantly felt like a keepsake from a notable day at Gillette Stadium.
The card is available for purchase for a limited time, which fits neatly with Bradys growing presence in the hobby world. He is also a co-owner of CardVault by Tom Brady, the sports card shop franchise that now has 20 locations across the United States, so the Foxborough appearance added another layer to a post-playing career that keeps circling back to memorabilia, nostalgia and the Patriots audience that knows his name best. [Read more 🡒]