USA TODAY International Edition
Not in Super Bowl, and Patriots are not missed
MIAMI – Although he hoped his beloved Dolphins would be playing in Super Bowl LIV here Sunday, Roger Avila ( aka “Dolfan Maniac”) said he got a coveted consolation prize.
There will be no Patriots, absent from the Super Bowl for the first time since 2016.
“Let’s put it this way, we can now enjoy the Super Bowl,” Avila, who drives a Dolphins- themed truck, told USA TODAY Sports. “We don’t want to even mention their name. That’s how bad it is, man.”
He is not alone.
Scores of NFL fans, celebrities and at least one Pro Football Hall of Famer are among those expressing relief that the Patriots won’t be playing in the Super Bowl.
“I think it’s good for the game,” Jerome Bettis, the former Steelers running back and Hall of Famer, told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s a good opportunity to get fresh blood, if you will, into those games. But more importantly, some of the new faces of the NFL, to give them that platform and that exposure, I think it’s definitely beneficial to the NFL.”
Yet more than fresh faces, it’s the absence of an old, familiar face – that of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady – exciting some fans during the buildup to the Super Bowl.
“I am ecstatic about that,” Rey Jesper, a devout Dolphins fan, told USA TODAY Sports. “I was very excited to see him losing the wild- card round ( against the Tennessee Titans).”
Actor Tony Shalhoub put his feelings about a Super Bowl without Tom Brady and the Patriots this way: “I’m not losing any sleep over that.”
The anti- Patriots sentiment has reached The Silver Bullet, the famed Patriots fan whose real name is Keith Birchall.
“Of course you’re always going to have haters out there,” Birchall said. “Even during the season they’re happy to see you lose. They say they’re sick of the Patriots dynasty, and we always win.”
But Avila, the rabid Dolphins fan, said he’s not jealous of the success of the Patriots, who have won two of the last three Super Bowls and six since 2002.
He said he’s bothered by the scandals such as Deflategate and Spygate that have ensnared the team.
“It’s not like I’m a little kid ( saying), ‘ I don’t want the Patriots no more, they’ve got too many rings,’ ” he said. “If it wasn’t for the shadiness of getting busted and filming …
“The San Francisco 49ers’ are legit ( Super Bowl) rings. The Pittsburgh Steelers’ are legit rings. The Dallas Cowboys’ are legit rings. Now you say New England Patriots? I see shady. It’s not legit.”
But actor Brad Pitt sounded less concerned about who won’t be in the Super Bowl than who will.
“My Chiefs are going to the Super Bowl,” he said.