Here's When the Buccaneers Play the Patriots in 2021

While a lot of football fans can't wait for the 2021 NFL season, there may not be a more highly anticipated matchup than the one between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Not only will we see Tom Brady play against Bill Belichick for the first time in his career, but the game is also happening in New England.

While fans and experts have known that the game will happen for some time now, there wasn't any indication of when it would take place. All of that changed on Tuesday when Boston sports broadcaster Marc Bertrand reported that the Buccaneers-Patriots game would likely take place in early October.

Picked up #Patriots schedule pieces from @scottzolak: No London trip, Buccaneers game will likely be early Oct., Buffalo Week 1, and no Thanksgiving game.
— Marc Bertrand (@Marc_Bertrand) May 11, 2021

Tampa Bay Buccaneers News

While no exact date has been confirmed, you can bet that fans are already looking forward to early October. It's hard to imagine a bigger regular-season game than this one in recent history. Brady spent the majority of his career with the Patriots, helping them win six Super Bowl titles between 2001 and 2018.

Another major aspect of this game is that Brady has only been gone for one year, but he proved that he could win a championship without Belichick in that time. Now, the only thing left for Brady to do in his career that he hasn't already is beat the Patriots. Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Brett Favre are the only signal-callers in NFL history to defeat all 32 teams, so you have to feel like TB12 wants to join that elite company.

However, one of the most interesting things about this meeting is how the fans will react to Brady's return. We've seen star players return to both boos and cheers.

Regardless, the Buccaneers-Patriots matchup this season should be memorable for a multitude of reasons, both on and off the field.

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