What the national media is saying about Super Bowl LII
"The Patriots are simply the NFL version of Freddy Krueger."
With the Patriots in yet another Super Bowl, the national media has had plenty of opportunity to express their thoughts on New England’s latest trip to the NFL’s biggest stage. New York media has already made their thoughts clear on the subject.
In the build-up to Super Bowl LII, here’s a look at a few excerpts of media reactions to the Patriots:
Eion Higgins, Deadspin
From a piece titled, “I Hate The Patriots And All Their Fans But I Live Here And Need Them To Win“:
Unfortunately, my mental self-preservation depends on a Patriots win. I’m just not prepared to deal with what would follow an Eagles victory: a year of whining and complaining about how the Patriots were robbed because Goodell and the NFL somehow conspired with the refs to give the game to Philadelphia. It’ll be awful, it’ll be endless, and it’ll be reality here in New England for the next nine months if the Pats lost. I’d rather deal with a short burst of fans celebrating and then being smug but relatively quiet about it. Anything but the woe-is-me bullshit. Anything but that.
Bill Barnwell, ESPN
From “Barnwell’s Super Bowl LII Preview: Do Wentz-less Eagles have a shot?“:
If this were the Eagles with Carson Wentz, I’d pick them to win. They’re better than the Patriots on both sides of the line of scrimmage, and that played up when the Falcons nearly upset New England last year. That Falcons team had the league MVP playing at quarterback, though, and I’m just not sold that Foles is going to hold up his end of the bargain in carrying the Eagles to victory.
Gene Frenette, Florida Times-Union
From “Eagles will finish where Jaguars fell short“:
Once again the Evil Empire is in the Super Bowl, largely because the Jaguars couldn’t put away the most disciplined team in NFL history when the opportunity was there in the AFC Championship game. That 20-10 lead will haunt the Jaguars this offseason, just as 28-3 still stings for the Atlanta Falcons.
The Patriots are simply the NFL version of Freddy Krueger. The Philadelphia Eagles better kill them off Sunday even when it looks like they’re dead because Brady’s resuscitating power is remarkable.
Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times
From “Patriots vs. Everybody: A look at why New England is the most-hated team“:
With New England in the NFL’s marquee game for the third time in four years, and the franchise on the verge of its sixth Lombardi Trophy since the 2001 season, Patriots fatigue has reached epidemic proportions.
Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times
From “An unsettling development: Tom Brady is not so easy to hate anymore“:
During interviews this week, along with the “Tom vs Time” documentary showing on Facebook, it sounds as if [Brady] wants to be remembered as something else, something more closely resembling a human being than the dandelion greens-eating alien who frequently has stolen January during the past 18 years.
It’s a strange, unsettling look. A conflicting look.
Paul Schwartz, New York Post
From “Eagles have best shot in years at stopping the Patriots dynasty“:
We interrupt this edition of Patriots Digest to confirm New England indeed has an opponent. This time around, playing the role of “the other team’’ is the Eagles, representing an often star-crossed franchise that, much to the chagrin of their green-clad Philadelphia zealots, has never won a Super Bowl. The Patriots in this expansive run have taken out the Rams, Panthers, Eagles, Seahawks and Falcons. The only dents in the New England armor were inflicted by the Giants, who beat Belichick and Brady twice, causing a 10-year gap between titles.
The Eagles, in Super Bowl LII at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday, either will join the Giants as Patriots slayers or else will get dumped in the refuse bin as just another team that could not solve the Belichick-Brady hex.
Bill Simmons, The Ringer
From “Super Bag VI“:
What the hell? Giants fans are ROOTING for the Patriots? I asked a few Giants fan friends and they confirmed that — thanks to Eli’s legacy, their last two Super Bowl wins, some residual affection for Belichick shutting down Montana’s Niners and Kelly’s Bills in back-to-back weeks in 1990, and, of course, their unabashed hatred for the Eagles — nearly all of them are rooting against Philly.
Well, unless I can talk them out of it. This is pathetic! Eli’s Hall of Fame résumé is THAT flimsy? You have to support America’s biggest 21st-century sports villain to feel more secure about your two pulled-it-out-of-your-sphincter Super Bowl wins? You have to support a BOSTON TEAM to feel better about your franchise QB having a worse career passer rating than Jay Cutler, Sam Bradford, David Garrard, and Marc Bulger?
Sally Jenkins, Washington Post
From “The Patriots will never win enough for Belichick and Brady“:
The partnership between the perfection-crazed quarterback Brady and the detail-obsessed coach Belichick is a “perfect storm,” as former coach Tony Dungy puts it — a centrifugal electromagnetic vortex that attracts heavy metal: eight trips to the Super Bowl in 17 years, five of them resulting in silver trophies. “I’d hate me, too,” Brady said wryly this week.
Underlying their accomplishments is not ambition so much as an epic neediness. Winning for them is a need, and there is nothing to suggest that, should they win a sixth championship when they meet the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, it will soothe them into not needing a seventh. “Winning became an addiction,” former Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi said. “It’s that way for Tom; it’s that way for Belichick. They’re the same. It’s never enough.”
Dan Wetzel, Yahoo
From “Tom Brady has one thing on his mind and it’s not retirement“:
He keeps saying he is home.
He’s been more effusive with the media. He’s told stories about hunting, fishing and milking cows. He’s also talked about the time he got sick from chewing tobacco and the two times he was bit by a dog. He’s detailed various hijinks with his cousins, sisters and even children.
Brady often doesn’t say much. He has this week.
He could retire after the game with his legacy and bank account secure. He just doesn’t want to. Whatever frustrations the grind of the job or the length of the season brought this year, he looks over it.
Must-see photos from Super Bowl LII:
[bdc-gallery id=”6832009″]
