Tedy Bruschi spent 13 seasons with the New England Patriots, nine of which came alongside Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
To say the former Patriots linebacker knows both men well probably is an understatement.
So, how does Bruschi expect Brady and Belichick to handle the quarterback's return to Gillette Stadium when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers travel to Foxboro in Week 4 of the upcoming NFL season?
Bruschi, a three-time Super Bowl champion who played for New England from 1996 through 2008, offered his input Thursday on ESPN's "Get Up."
"'Emotionally' is the right word to describe this, and which one of them do I feel detaches better than the other? And for me, it's Bill Belichick," Bruschi said. "So, for him, emotions won't be there. But for Tom, it's just who he is. And throughout the course of the week, he'll say all of the right things and he'll act the right way and he'll get his team to say the right things, too. But he can't contain himself.
"Those emotions, there's just a fire in there that he's always had, and he'll feel it and he'll want to crush the New England Patriots, he'll want to score 30 to 40 points. That's just who he is, no matter who it is -- whether it's a divisional rival or his old team, Brady will be emotionally possibly out of control at times."
Brady is a fiery competitor, no doubt. But he's also calm, cool and collected between the lines when the stakes are raised. And it's safe to say the looming head-to-head matchup between the Patriots and Bucs will be one of the most highly anticipated regular-season games in sports history.
Ultimately, the bigger question might center around how each team looks when the sides lock horns. The Bucs, who won the Super Bowl in Brady's first season with the organization, look poised to repeat after bringing back all of their starters on both sides of the ball, while the Patriots have a ton of fresh faces after a busy offseason in which they splurged in free agency.
Plus, we don't know who will be New England's starting quarterback come Week 4. Belichick has said Cam Newton remains atop the QB depth chart, but one can't help but wonder how long it'll be before he hands the keys to rookie Mac Jones, recently taken with the 15th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
