New Englanders everywhere have lost something . . . our beloved quarterback, Tom Brady. After leaving the New England Patriots, Brady joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and won his seventh Super Bowl. Thus, he has collected more Super Bowl rings than any single NFL team. Brady has become one of, if not the, greatest quarterbacks in NFL history.
Brady’s near 20-year career with the New England Patriots came to an end in 2019. This left heartbroken Patriots fans to watch the New England dynasty fall to shambles in a single season. Some New Englanders chose to embrace the new change and root for Brady after the move to the Buccaneers. Andrew Hewitt, a 20-year-old local to northern Maine, said he’s more of a Patriots fan than a Brady fan. And if Patriots games and Buccaneers games were played at the same time, he would watch the Patriots play, regardless of the lack of Brady.
Having only ever watched the Patriots with Brady as the quarterback, it’s not surprising that Andrew is still a huge Brady fan. He claimed, “I rooted for Brady, not the Bucs.” This shows that Brady’s winning career and past development as a player with the Patriots didn’t go to waste after his leaving.
Although divorced, the Patriots and Tom Brady will still be on Andrew’s television. He looks forward to watching both play in the future, without any hard feeling toward Brady or the Patriots.
Being younger, Andrew only watched the Patriots with Brady. So, what about someone who watched the Patriots without Brady? Toby Arsenault, a 43-year-old longtime Patriot’s fan, said that he’s watched Brady rise through the ranks. From Brady’s 199th pick in the sixth round 2000 NFL draft, to 20 years later as the king of the NFL, Toby watched it all. He claimed, “When you have a player of that caliber, you just want to watch them succeed no matter the team.” And Toby stayed true to this statement, watching both the Patriots and Brady. Admittedly watching more Patriots games this last season than Buccaneers games, Toby said he’d “Definitely watch more Bucs games after the Super Bowl.”
Toby hopes Brady continues to succeed with the Buccaneers. He said, “We’re all fortunate to say that we watched Brady play. When we have grandkids and watch football with them, we can say we watched Brady.”
