The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will begin their defense of the Super Bowl title against the Dallas Cowboys on September 9 at Raymond James Stadium. It marks the first time that the Buccaneers will play in the Kickoff Game since the season-opening contest was introduced in 2002, per Jenna Laine of ESPN. In 2003, the Buccaneers opened their season as defending Super Bowl champions against the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football at Lincoln Financial Field.

Quarterback Tom Brady expressed excitement in facing the Cowboys as their season-opener on his Instagram account. The veteran quarterback shared a photo of the Buccaneers’ social media post regarding their clash with the Cowboys on his Instagram story and accompanied it with the caption “9/9 can’t come soon enough. Excited to open against ‘America’s Team,’” referring to the Cowboys, per a post by National Football Post.

Brady is expected to clash with Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who is in line to return after suffering a gruesome ankle injury in Week 5. Brady is 1-0 against the Cowboys with Prescott under center, having beaten Dallas, 13-9, in 2019 when he was still with the New England Patriots.

The Buccaneers, for their part, are 0-2 against Prescott, but with Brady onboard, Tampa Bay is a six-point favorite over the Cowboys. In his 21-year NFL career, Brady has played in four Kickoff Games, winning three. His lone loss came against the Kansas City Chiefs at Gillette Stadium in 2017.

Brady, Bucs to face Patriots in Week 4

According to Bleacher Report, Brady will make his much anticipated return to Gillette Stadium when the Buccaneers take on his former team, the Patriots, on Sunday Night Football in Week 4. It will be the first time that Brady will go up against the Patriots and head coach Bill Belichick. Brady played in New England for 20 seasons, winning six Super Bowl titles, before joining the Buccaneers last season on a two-year, $50 million deal.

Brady has a chance to make history anew as he would become the fourth quarterback to beat all 32 NFL teams if he leads the Buccaneers to victory over the Patriots. Only three quarterbacks achieved that feat – Peyton Manning, Brett Favre and Drew Brees.

Bucs GM says Brady can play until he’s 50

When the Buccaneers signed Brady to a four-year contract extension that is essentially a one-year deal extension, the quarterback did not mention to the team his future plans, according to general manager Jason Licht. “I want to keep all those conversations, most of them, private, but no inkling at all,” Licht said during an interview on “The Rich Eisen Show”, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk.

However, Licht said he believes that Brady can play until he’s 50 years old. Licht said he told Brady that if he still wants to play, he can start for the Buccaneers until he’s 50 years old. The contract extension would keep Brady in Tampa Bay for two more years and gives him a chance to fulfill his goal of playing until he’s 45 years old.