Enjoy this one tonight Patriots fans, it’ll be a while until you see this type of atmosphere again.

Primetime, Sunday night, all eyes on Gillette Stadium. It’s something fans got used to seeing four or five times a year when Tom Brady was the quarterback and 14-2 was almost a given before training camp even started.

Those days are long gone now and when Brady packs up and leaves after tonight’s historic return, it’s probably going to be the last time the eyes of the football world are on Foxborough for a game of this magnitude for quite a while. This is the only home night game the Patriots have scheduled this season unless they get flexed into another one and based on the way the season has started, there’s going to be a lot more 1 PM games in the near future. The only Monday Night Football game New England will be taking part in this year will be in Buffalo.

For years, Patriots fans clamored for a night game after a debacle at the old Foxborough Stadium scared the NFL away from primetime games here. During the last 20 seasons, it seemed like every other Sunday night Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth were in town for a “must see” game. Now, Brady’s final game at Gillette Stadium could very well be the last big game atmosphere fans have around here for a long time.

Remember the Denver comeback against Peyton Manning on that windy, frigid night at Gillette? I do because I left at halftime when my beer froze. Or, how about the thrilling rematch against the Seahawks a few years ago that came down to a non-PI call against Gronk in the end zone? There’s a bunch of the big night game memories we’ve had here at Gillette Stadium since 2001 – good and bad – and now suddenly, the Patriots are heading back in the “others” pile with all of the mediocre franchises as if the NFL is sorting through old clothes it doesn’t want anymore. Think George Costanza trying to sell his father’s “cabana wear” to Rudy’s.

This game is really only in primetime because of Tom Brady too. Let’s be honest, Mac Jones and Bill Belichick probably aren’t an important topic of conversation when the NBC or ESPN higher ups are in their meeting room discussing the broadcast schedule in the summer. The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, countless other media outlets and NFL GameDay were and are at Gillette this week and it sure as hell isn’t because N’Keal Harry is off IR. Hell, Willie McGinest and Kay Adams were doing live shots at about 7 AM on Sunday morning. These days will be a distant memory after tonight.

When Brady takes the field Sunday night or when he eventually breaks the all-time passing record, those two moments very well could be the last “special” ones we see in this stadium on a national stage for at least a few years. God help the Belichick loyalists if Brady leads a game-winning drive for Tampa Bay too. Imagine if TB12 wraps up this era of meaningful night games at Gillette with another epic game-winning drive AGAINST Bill? Patriots fans don’t want to hear it, but this franchise will no longer be an attraction nationally after Sunday night. That left when Tom Brady did.

So now, here’s one final night to embrace all of it. Embrace ESPN and NFL Network running live shots from there all morning. Embrace what this team has been for the last 20 years and how much of it was because of the guy in 12 wearing white. Embrace Brady’s run out of the tunnel. Embrace whatever result ends up as the final tally on the scoreboard, because after tonight, the New England Patriots are just like every other “meh” NFL franchise.