Bill Belichick crashes Bucs locker room to share private moment with Tom Brady
By Josie Rohach
Tom Brady’s return to Gillette Stadium to face his former team as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer was full of reunions, and some were better than others.
As soon as he arrived back in New England, Patriots fans greeted their former quarterback with cheers. Brady also shared a picturesque embrace with Patriots owner Robert Kraft pregame and spent all of his time postgame chatting with his former teammates. Both sides seemed to be enjoying the homecoming and soaking it all in.
But there was no meeting more hyped than Brady’s reunion with head coach Bill Belicheck.
Unfortunately, the countless TV promotions, social media posts, and podcasts that painted Sunday night’s matchup as a contest between the greatest coach and greatest player of all time didn’t end in a frameable scene.
It turns out that despite almost every eye in football on them, the two football greats decided to share their greetings privately.
Belichick was in the Bucs locker room for 23 minutes. He just walked out with Brady. https://t.co/HRVnJpHlEV
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) October 4, 2021
Tom Brady and Bill Belicheck shared a private postgame moment
What did we expect? Belicheck has never been a man of many words, nor one to publicly express any emotion aside from anger.
And that moment had to be full of emotion. The two made nine Super Bowl appearances together that resulted in six shared championships for the city of New England. They spent almost two decades building a dynasty that was ripped apart when Brady signed with Tampa Bay and won the Super Bowl with them in 2020.
Brady and Belichick were also reeling from a 19-17 Buccaneers victory where Brady was shut out of the end zone despite setting the record for most career passing yards. Maybe that gave his former head coach some comfort, knowing that Mac Jones, who threw for two touchdowns, had a better night even with a loss.
Whatever it is that the two talked about, they’ve both made it clear that their shared legacy has given them nothing but respect and admiration for one another. If you were looking for drama between Brady and Belicheck, last night was not your night.