Tom Brady vs. Bill Belichick: NFL explains why Bucs at Patriots was scheduled so early in 2021 season

Leading up to the release of the schedule for the 2021 season, the biggest game that most football fans had circled was Tom Brady's pending return to New England to face his former team in the Patriots and, of course, Bill Belichick. It's a game that has been eyed effectively since the seven-time Super Bowl champion elected to leave the organization back in the spring of 2020 to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who were slated to visit Foxborough in 2021. Well, now we know exactly when arguably the most anticipated regular-season game in NFL history will be: Sunday, Oct. 3 at 8:20 p.m. ET.