A new book by Seth Wickersham called "It's Better To Be Feared" revealed the inner workings of the New England Patriots that dominated the NFL from 2001 to 2019. The book specifically illuminates the power dynamics between Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. 

Wickersham writes that Brady ultimately left New England not only because both Belichick and Kraft refused to commit to him until his stated goal of playing until age 45, but also because he wanted to be with a franchise that welcomed his input. 

"Tom Brady had been curious if there was another way of winning, and while nobody was arguing that Bruce Arians was a better coach than Bill Belichick, or even close, the seamlessness of Brady's proficiency and performance was making his former coach's methodologies look antiquated, even silly," the book says. "It was better to be feared -- but was it necessary?"

As examples of what the dynasty wrought, Wickersham writes that Kraft once called Belichick the "biggest f----ng a--hole in my life."

In 2018, the trio were trying to set aside grievances in order to remain victorious. 

"Brady was tired of taking team-friendly deals with no input into how the money saved was spent -- and still wanted a long-term contractual commitment," Wickersham writes. "Belichick told associates that every organizational decision now was in support of Brady, geared toward pleasing him and making him successful -- and that Kraft meddled with the team, sometimes with opinions, sometimes with restrictive budgets.

"As for Kraft, in late September, he was in Aspen [Colorado] for a conference and bumped into a few friends in the hotel lobby early one morning. He told them he was leaving later for Detroit, where the Patriots were playing their next game. 'I hate leaving here,' Kraft said. 'You leave here and you leave some of the most brilliant people you've ever met. You pick up so much knowledge from all these brilliant minds. And I have to go to Detroit to be with the biggest f-----ng a--hole in my life -- my head coach.' "

"Bill was an idiot savant," Kraft told a confidant, according to the book, alluding to Belichick's reputation before he hired the former Cleveland Browns coach in 2000. "I gave him this opportunity."

Tom Brady continues to discuss just how long he'll play quarterback in the NFL.

In an interview with Wall Street Journal Magazine, Brady confirmed that he'll definitely play through the 2022 season.

"Beyond that, I don’t know," Brady said. "Maybe it's another year after that; maybe it's two. I'll have to see where I'm at with my family. That's probably the overriding factor — what I’m missing out on."

Richard Sherman announced on his own podcast Wednesday that he's signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

He worked out for Tampa Bay earlier this week.

Tom Brady acknowledged Monday that he will feel "different kinds of emotions" when he returns to Gillette Stadium this weekend for the first time since leaving New England, where he said he enjoyed "some of the greatest experiences of my life."

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers visit the Patriots on Sunday Night Football this week.

"I know that locker room, I know that home locker room, I know that home tunnel, I know which way the wind blows, I know everything about that [place]," Brady told Jim Gray on their "Let's Go!" podcast. "I know the way it smells. I know what a night game's like, I know what the fans are gonna sound like. So in some ways, that'll be really unique. I've never had that experience going to, you know -- it'll be a first time for me being on the other sideline.

"I'm not going to necessarily reminisce. I don't think this is the moment for that. I'll have plenty opportunities to reminisce about my football career -- none of it, none of which I really care to do right now because I'm so much in the moment. I'm not going to be thinking about 20 years of history. I'm going to be thinking about one night of football, a Sunday night game coming off a really tough loss."

Alex Guerrero said Bill Belichick "never evolved" in how he treated Tom Brady, which became a factor in his exit in 2020 after 20 seasons with the New England Patriots. 

"It was like Bill never really ... I think his emotions or feelings never evolved with age," Guerrero told the Boston Herald on Wednesday. "As Tom got into his late 30s or early 40s, I think Bill was still trying to treat him like that 20-year-old kid that he drafted. And all the players, I think, realized Tom was different. He's older, so he should be treated differently. And all the players, none of them would have cared that he was treated differently.

"I think that was such a Bill thing. He never evolved. So you can't treat someone who's in his 40s like they're 20. It doesn't work."

Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will pay at the Patriots On October 3rd. 

Rob Gronkowski said Wednesday that he actually does watch film and his job isn't as easy as he made it seem while talking to Peyton and Eli Manning on their ESPN Monday Night Football MegaCast.

"I actually watch tons of film. An overload of film. I will probably blame [Bucs vice president of communications] Nelson [Luis] over there. He asked me eight times to go on the show. I told him, 'It's not a good idea.' They always get me in that type of silly atmosphere, and that's what happened," Gronkowski said, joking. "Now Coach [Bruce Arians] threatened me. I don't get my vet day anymore."

Gronkowski joked on the show, "I just run by guys, and if I'm feelin' good, I'm feelin' good. ... I actually do go up to Tom [Brady] 'cause Tom watches like, I don't know, 40 hours of film a week. I go, 'Tom, who's covering me this week? What type of coverages are they doing?' I go, 'That's why I love playing for you, dawg. You just know everything.'"

Antonio Brown has been placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

Brown, like every one of his teammates and all members of the Bucs' coaching staff, is fully vaccinated, and per NFL rules, needs two negative tests 24 hours apart to return, as long as he is asymptomatic.

Brown's 138 receiving yards through two games is second-most on the team this season.

In the latest episode of the Let's Go! podcast, Tom Brady sounded a lot like a 44-year-old quarterback.

Brady was asked by Jim Gray about the evolution of the position toward mobile quarterbacks.

"I think there's probably a lot of shortsightedness," Brady said. "You know, when I hear that a lot, because I've heard over the years, you know, 'Oh, the game is changing,' and so forth. I think the game changes in different ways, absolutely. It evolves and changes and grows and hopefully it's getting better. And at the same time I think that there has always been, you know, incredible athletes playing professional football at the quarterback position. Randall Cunningham was an incredible athlete. Kenny Stabler was an incredible quarterback. Roger Staubach was. Michael Vick, I mean, I don’t know if there's anyone more athletic that’s ever played than Michael Vick. . . . I think it definitely adds an element to the game.

"But at the same time the name of the game is scoring points. So there’s definitely more volatility, I would say, in that style of play over a period of time. You’re definitely more injury prone because you’re out of the pocket. You don’t have the types of protection that you typically have in the pocket. And I would say the one thing that’s probably changed over the years in terms of why it’s probably gone a little more this way is, and I’ve alluded to this in the past, I think they’re calling more penalties on defensive players for hitting, you know, for violent contact. And I think when you’re out of the pocket, you know, we got called on a play yesterday where Ryan Jensen‘s going basically to protect our runner and they throw an unnecessary roughness on an offensive lineman that I don’t think would have been called, you know, five years ago. There’s a lot of plays and hits that are happening on quarterbacks now, that are flags for defensive players, that probably weren’t that way 10 or 15 years ago. So I’d say the game is a little softer than it used to be. I think the defensive players are more on the defensive when they go in to tackle. And I think that’s probably adding to this element of quarterbacks outside the pocket and taking more chances, you know, than they did in the past."

Tom Brady is closing in on the NFL record for career passing yardage, and he's likely to break it when he returns to New England on Sunday Night Football in Week 4.

Brady currently has 79,859 career passing yards, meaning he needs exactly 500 yards to break the all-time record of 80,358 yards, held by Drew Brees.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback is averaging 327.5 passing yards a game through two games this season.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have reached out to Richard Sherman to gauge his interest in joining the team.

The Buccaneers placed starting cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting on injured reserve last week.

"We got to see," Bruce Arians said. "He's got other things going on, too. Just a matter of, 'I coach the ones that we got and let [Jason Licht] handle the rest of that.' We'll kick the tires on some other guys, too. But it's just a matter of, 'No, we'll talk and see, and if it's the right fit, it's the right fit and we'll move on it.'"

The Buccaneers will be without Murphy-Bunting, who also serves as their nickelback, for an indefinite time after he suffered a dislocated right elbow in Week 1.