RING’S ALWAYS THE THING
New England’s winning tradition lost on haters
When it comes to the New England Patriots, tonight’s Super Bowl is a must-win for the ages.
Four rings in 16 years would be enough to satisfy most quarterbacks, most coaches, most NFL franchises, most fan bases and most media mobs.
Tom Brady is not most quarterbacks. Bill Belichick is not most coaches. The Patriots are not most NFL franchises. New England is not like any place on sports earth.
We have been dutifully brainwashed into believing the best one is “The Next One.”
Children learn at the age of 4 how important it is to “Do Your Job” when it’s time to pick up clothes off the floor.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of kids, pets and inanimate objects throughout the region named “Brady.”
We all know our own version of “Sign Kid,” those young people who are lucky to have never known a world where the Patriots were an NFL laughingstock rather than as the blueprint for a sporting empire.
We all have family or friends who passed into the next world having finally seen at least one Super Bowl trophy housed in Foxboro after they endured a football lifetime of embarrassment, misery and being forced to watch the New York Giants on TV each week.
However, the Patriots and their dynastic legacy are all-in tonight inside Houston’s NRG Stadium.
In the here and now, a record ninth Super Bowl appearance doesn’t mean a damn in New England unless Brady hoists the Lombardi Trophy around 10:15 p.m.
Two years of Deflategate, a constant barrage of envy fired from 31 NFL teams, wails of “cheater” and an immoral-if-not-illegal four-game suspension of Brady after those footballs following the Ideal Gas Law fueled the Revengeance II/ Murder the World tour that has rampaged across the NFL this season.
A flood of fake news and manufactured stories about how throngs of non-existent Patriots fans have bailed on the team because of its ties to President Trump corrupted the narrative and ignited ire. Piled upon all of this was the revelation that Brady’s mom has been batting a serious illness.
Meanwhile, the Patriots themselves have taken all of this personally — at least the part about winning another one for themselves and their quarterback.
Motivation is not a problem for the AFC champions.
The Atlanta Falcons have been ignored in all of this. This not out of any lack of respect. Rather, this is just how New Englanders roll. Whether born, bred or transplanted, New Englanders do not give a damn about what people from New York, Los Angeles or elsewhere think. For millions, the world still ends at Pittsfield, Hartford, Dixville Notch and Bangor.
As far as the football goes, there are only three teams in the NFC capable of beating the Patriots in a game of substance. The New York Giants are one. Been there, done that. The Seattle Seahawks are another. They did it in November. And these Falcons are the third. The reason is Matt Ryan. BC’s own is all grown up now.
Predictions are fun and meaningless. For the record, I like New England to win this one 62-14. But don’t bet on it. This may be the Super Bowl the Patriots and their fan base have been waiting for since the Super Bowl was first played 50 years ago last month.
If Brady is going to have the Super Bowl of his life, this seems to be the perfect time since he’s facing a defense that ranked dead last in the NFL when it came to stopping teams in the Red Zone.
A Patriots rout with Tom, Gisele and the kids on the sidelines wearing Super Bowl LI champion hats celebrating with three minutes to play would be the perfect ending to the mostly nightmare scenario that has surrounded the team since it won its last Super Bowl 24 long months ago.
Herr Goodell and his De-flateate co-conspirators will get their comeuppance with a New England victory. No War Crimes trial will be necessary.
That will be your vengeance, New England, not Brady’s.
We are all Patriots this time, whether you like it or not.