Tom Brady shares behind-the-scenes snaps and reflects on ‘special’ day in New England after the Patriots retired his No. 12 in front of 65,000 fans: ‘I’ll never forget it… Foxboro Forever’

A day after he was honored during a halftime ceremony on the same day he started a new pregame tradition for the New England Patriots, Tom Brady posted about the day on Instagram.

Aside from the ceremony, Brady stepped out of the lighthouse atop the newly renovated Gillette Stadium and rang the recently installed bell to kick off gameday.

‘I’ve talked a lot about how lucky I feel to have spent my life surrounded by such incredible people,’ Brady captioned the post on Monday. 

‘Yesterday was just another reminder of that. Coming back to New England to celebrate what WE accomplished was so special, and it’s a day that I’ll never forget. Being able to spend time with teammates, family, friends, coaches, and most importantly all the fans of Patriot nation is something that I’ll never take for granted.’

‘We won a whole lot of games up here… and believe it or not we had a whole lot of fun doing it. I’m so lucky to have been a New England Patriot. Foxboro Forever.’

Brady was honored by the New England Patriots during halftime against the Eagles

He posted a slideshow on Instagram with a caption saying he will never forget the special day

During the ceremony team owner Robert Kraft also announced that New England would forgo their standard four-year waiting period and induct Brady into the Patriots Hall of Fame on June 12, 2024.

The 6/12 date was picked as a reference to the six Super Bowl rings he won while wearing the No. 12 jersey.

As for the actual game that took place at Gillett Stadium New England suffered a close loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Jalen Hurts threw a touchdown pass and Darius Slay had a 70-yard interception return for a score as Philadelphia built a big early lead, then hung on at the finish to beat Patriots 25-20 on Sunday. 

Hurts was 22 of 33 for 170 yards and the TD but had a costly fumble in fourth quarter that gave the Patriots a chance. Jake Elliott kicked four field goals for Philadelphia, which didn’t reach the end zone after the first quarter.

‘Was it our cleanest opportunity? No. We´ve got a lot of things to clean up,’ Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. ‘We didn´t finish some drives late in the game.’

New England’s Mac Jones recovered from a rough start to finish 35 of 54 for 316 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Kendrick Bourne had two TD receptions. Hunter Henry added the other scoring catch for an offense that outgained the NFC champion Eagles 382-251.

For Brady himself, he’s having a season away from football before taking up a $375m role as an analyst on Fox Sports for the 2024 campaign next year.