When the NFL unveiled the 2021 schedule last week, the landed in Week 4: vs. the New England Patriots.Vice president of NFL broadcast planning Mike North told Peter King of NBC Sports that it was a conscious choice to put the G.O.A.T. vs. Pats tu sle early in the season, where other i sues like injuries, weather, and playoff implications Josh Archibald Men Jersey are le s likely to take the focus off the Brady Derek Stepan Kids Jersey returning to Foxborough narrative."The story can be about Brady's return," North told King for his . "It would be different if Tom's standing on the 50-yard line watching a tribute video in November in six inches of snow. Or, the later in the season we go, the more likely somebody's injured. Getting in early, having that story told, made some sense."The Tampa Jakob Chychrun Women Jersey Bay Buccaneers traveling to face New England is the story most of the football world will be tracking intensely come this fall, particularly in New England, where the price of tickets for that contest has already shot through the roof.North noted that every broadcast partner lobbied for the rights to broadcast the game between Brady and Belichick, two of the most iconic names in football history. NBC came out the winner with the Week 4 game landing on .The executive producer of , Fred Gaudelli, told Nick Cousins Kids Jersey King he'd compare Brady's return to just one other matchup he can recall since the inception of in 2006."The only one we've ever done that I could compare it to was our first game -- the Manning Bowl," Gaudelli said of the 2006 matchup Teppo Numminen Jersey between Peyton's Colts and Eli's Giants. "Such tremendous interest in that game. And this year, Tampa Bay-New England will be a story that transcends sports for the week before the game. It's the game of the year, certainly. It might be the game of many, many years."