It will be business as usual for the Patriots when the best player in the franchise's history returns to New England as a visitor.
Pats defensive tackle Byron Cowart expressed as much during a recent episode of the IGTV show "Patriots Way of Life." Cowart, a 2019 fifth-round pick by New England, explained how he's approaching the Patriots' highly-anticipated Week 4 matchup against Tom Brady and the Buccaneers.
"He's done a lot of things for this organization," Cowart said, as transcribed by Patriots Wire. "He's coming back, but he's coming back as an opponent, so I'm going to treat it like any opponent."
Cowart continued: "We ain't welcoming him back. We just (have to) play him. There ain't going to be no damn ceremony for him or nothing like that. ... They might clap for him, but there's not going to be … this is our opponent. Bro, what? We like to win."
We imagine Bill Belichick won't be very sappy about Brady's return in the lead-up to the early October tilt either.
