Villanueva used to be Patriots fan

said, apologetically.

Then he laughed and raised his voice: “But now I hate him!”

Actually, Villanueva maintains great respect for Brady and the Patriots because they helped carry him through some harrowing times in Afghanistan, where he served three tours of duty in the Army. He deeply appreciates Brady’s connection to the military.

“The crazy thing is, I get calls from people who are overseas, secretive places, doing really tough missions, and they say that when they have a bad mission, bad day, Tom Brady will [videoteleconference] them or will talk to them, you know?” he said. “It’s one of those things where regardless of how competitive we are — and obviously Steelers-Patriots for us, maybe not so much for them, is such an important game on the schedule — you can put football aside and really look up to a player who’s doing great things for servicemen and women.

“I mean, that means a lot.”

While with the Army Rangers, Villanueva sometimes would lead those secret missions. His connection to the football world was minimal, at best, so he would imagine scenarios where the Patriots were rolling people.

I know, this hurts to hear. Stay with him.

“When I was over there — and again, you don’t know which day could be your last — it was fun to follow, but I would have no access to information,” he said. “I’d just hear the scores, and I’d sort of fantasize in my head how good Gronk [tight end Rob Gronkowski] was doing or how good [receiver Julian] Edelman was doing and how they were winning games.

“Now, it’s crazy. I get to see Gronk after the games, and somehow he knows my name. He’s like, ‘Hey Al.’ So I think football means a lot.

“I think it’s really cool.”