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Dyer: Giants, Jets fans should root for Patriots in SB LII – Metro US

Dyer: Giants, Jets fans should root for Patriots in SB LII

Dyer: Giants, Jets fans should root for Patriots in SB LII
The worst day of the year is upon us, New York.
A Super Bowl featuring the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles, these two teams the longtime foes of New York’s two respective NFL teams, is nothing short of a nightmare scenario for fans in this city. Cheering for either team is downright dirty for us, seeing the cheaters to the north or those folks who believe Rocky was real lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy is a lose-lose proposition.
It’s enough to make the country’s largest city go off the grid Sunday night.
The Patriots have long been the perennial powerhouse of the AFC East, the team’s singular stumble of any note coming in 2010 in a Divisional Round loss to the New York Jets in the “Can’t Wait” game.
The bad blood between the Eagles and the New York Giants is legendary, a rivalry that is perhaps as deep on both sides as any in the NFL.
All of which makes this coming Sunday a doomsday situation. Time to watch the kitten bowl.
The very idea of either team winning the Super Bowl is anathema to everything New Yorkers believe in when it comes to the gridiron. Either of these teams is enough to make Giants or Jets fans’ blood boil, ruining the Super Bowl this year for many in New York and New Jersey.
But one of these choices is the clear-cut lesser of two evils. A choice that whether you are a blue-blooded Giants fan or a fire helmet-wearing Jets fan is easy to make for this Sunday.
So grab a crock of some New England chow-duh and some Yankee beans. Time, oh cynical New Yorker, to cheer on the Patriots.
Yes, those are words that are especially sickening for Jets fans who loathe everything about Patriots Way. There’s the smugness of head coach Bill Belichick and the fact that the Jets had seven — yes seven — opportunities to take quarterback Tom Brady in the 2000 NFL draft and didn’t. From Deflategate to some humiliating losses in recent years, there is every reason to hate on the Patriots.
In a weird way though, by embracing the Patriots this once, it might hasten their overall end.
The faster that this team wins what would be their sixth Super Bowl, the faster Jets fans can hope that this dynasty evaporates. A win this year is perhaps the best bet that Belichick or Brady will retire, that trips to Foxborough won’t be so loathsome and that the entire AFC East will be up for grabs.
They might just finally be satisfied on their largesse. Be bowled over by their latest win.
A beautiful dream given the fact that these young Jets have a huge war chest with which to spend and chase after free agents this offseason. Were the Patriots to dissipate after this Super Bowl then the division is wide open. The Jets could very quickly ascend atop the AFC East, a return to the playoffs could be nigh.
A Patriots win this Sunday is the best bet for Jets fans. An Eagles Super Bowl triumph, while a short-term fix and something that would feel so good for one night in the land of ‘Gang Green’ won’t tip the balance of power in the AFC anytime soon.
A New England win and perhaps Brady hangs it up and Belichick fades onto the golf course. Perhaps the competitive fires are quenched. The dynasty, maybe, simply ends.
For Giants fans, there need not be much of an argument to convince them to root against New England.
And the rationale to root for Brady and the Patriots is easier for Giants fans to swallow. A win by the Eagles would be devastating. Philadelphia has an exciting young quarterback, a fantastic defense and some real momentum. Things are on the uptick down there.
Philadelphia, given quarterback Carson Wentz’s ascendance this year, was already going to be an easy sell for free agents. Throw in a Super Bowl title and suddenly the Eagles would have the making of a dynasty. It would cement that the organization has arrived, a true doomsday scenario for the Giants.
The Giants best bet against this purgatory is to try and nip this thing in the bud, see the Patriots win and the Eagles lose then spend this offseason regrouping from their abysmal 3-13 record. If Philadelphia wins, might as well chalk up the next decade to the Eagles running the roost in the NFC East.
Time, oh Giants fan, to cross your fingers and hope that New England wins. Again.
It’s not an easy pill to swallow, after all, can’t both these cities lose on Sunday?
But a Patriots win in the Super Bowl is the best bet for New York to have a viable football future for the next decade. Hope that they win, cheer on this Super Bowl and cross one’s fingers that the dynasty is closer to being over than not…that a dynasty in Philadelphia is never born.
Go Pats.
Yuck.