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Tom Brady enjoys every moment of his San Francisco homecoming

This is Tom Brady’s 17th NFL season, but Sunday was the first time in his career he was able to play back home in San Francisco, in front of the family and friends who were so instrumental in his early life.

The New England Patriots did play at the old Candlestick Park in 2008, but that was the year Brady missed essentially the entire season to a torn ACL.

Happy to be back: on Sunday, Tom Brady played at San Francisco for the first time in his career. (Getty Images)
Happy to be back: on Sunday, Tom Brady played at San Francisco for the first time in his career. (Getty Images)

So this weekend was a long-awaited homecoming, and the quarterback seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. There was the on-field, of course – the Patriots beat the San Francisco 49ers, 30-17, with Brady throwing for four touchdowns and no interceptions, the 21st time in his career he’s done that (no other quarterback has more 4 TD/0 INT games); in six games this season, Brady has thrown 16 touchdowns against just one pick. And New England moved to 8-2, the best record in the AFC.

“It doesn’t get any better than that,” Brady said after the game. “For the first chance to ever do that, it was very special. I felt it in pregame warmup and it carried right to the last play of the game. It was pretty great.

“[The 49ers] have a great organization, they always have, and it inspired a lot of kids here in the Bay Area in my time growing up, and I was one of them. To see (former Niners fullback and current Niners running backs coach) Tom Rathman before the game, I mean I idolized him. Dwight Clark and Joe Montana, to see them at halftime, it was a pretty, pretty great day for me.”

Off the field, Brady actually got some family time, which is rare. He grew up in San Mateo, about 20 miles from Candlestick, and like so many Bay Area kids of the time, idolized Joe Montana. He was in the stands as a preschooler for The Catch, and attended Junipero Serra High School (the football field is now called the Brady Family Field thanks to his donation).

With the Patriots flying out to California on Friday, Brady got the chance to return to his boyhood home – his parents, Tom Sr. and Galynn, still live on Portola Drive – on Saturday.

“Where [the Patriots] stayed in Redwood City is only about five minutes from my house where my parents live. I was able to go over and see my parents on Saturday and all my sisters came over and all my nieces and nephews,” Brady told Boston radio station WEEI on Monday morning. “I got the chance — this time of the year — for maybe three or four hours to kind of be in my house where I grew up in and spend time with my parents. It was great. It was a great Saturday afternoon. The rest was all football.”

And the reunion didn’t end there.

“Sunday morning was all football and obviously playing the game. Postgame I probably had 50 or 60 people to say hi too, which was really fun,” he said. “I don’t get to the Bay Area very often and certainly don’t get to see all the people that I grew up on the same block as, or guys I went to high school with and parents of some of my best friends. It was just really neat. It’s hard to describe because I’ve never even even that experience. It was a little bit emotional and it was just a really great experience.”

Levi’s Stadium wasn’t exactly packed – the Niners came into the day on an eight-game losing streak – but many who were there were New England fans, and chants of “Brady! Brady!” were heard a couple of times during the game.