ST. PAUL, Minn. — The “M-V-P!” chants started outside Gillette Stadium early Monday during the New England Patriots’ LII sendoff.
, their five-time Super Bowl champion and elder statesman with a penchant for comebacks, donned a heavy overcoat and black gloves, awaited his introduction then walked to the center of the stage. As Jay-Z’s “Public Service Announcement” blared from the speakers, he grabbed the microphone, thanked his loyal fans who bore the frigid weather and warned them that the journey wasn’t quite finished.
He’s not done, he and the Patriots warned.
“We’ve got one more to go,” Brady told the Foxborough, Mass., crowd. “We’re going to go out there and try to win it for you guys.”
Then he dropped the mike, inciting an uproar from the teammates standing behind him. DJ Khaled’s “All I Do Is Win” began to play, and soon after Brady and Co. were on a plane bound for Minnesota.
Brady, on the hunt for his second consecutive Super Bowl victory and third in the last four years, continues to defy his age at 40 and continues to draw a crowd. Love him or hate him, he is the star of the NFL show, be it on the East Coast or in the Midwest. And in his 18 years in the spotlight, he has provided a performance that grows more intriguing by the day.
But by Monday evening, that intrigue was curiously missing. The tone had changed.
The Super Bowl party that started in Massachusetts had followed the Patriots to Minnesota, where fans and media crowded Xcel Energy Center for Super Bowl LII Opening Night. But the “M-V-P!” chants were absent. The thank-yous from players to fans were inaudible if existent. The roar of the crowd had quieted.
During an evening of both pomp and peculiarity, Brady was of course front and center, and enveloped by reporters and celebrities who tossed him questions about football strategy and teeth-whitening strategy (seriously). But perhaps the sight of Brady and the Patriots back on the biggest stage had finally grown a bit old.
Perhaps it just seemed normal.
“It’s fun. Look at this,” Brady said as he looked out into the sea of reporters and fans. “How could you not have fun doing things like this? To be at Super Bowl media day and to have sendoff rallies, these are dreams come true and I think everyone should enjoy this. This is a very unique experience.”
Flanking Brady was his longtime coach and man of few words, , who was oddly overdressed for the occasion with a suit and tie but held to his usual news-conference regimen.
He’s not worried about the past, he told anyone who asked.
He’s focused on the Eagles, he told anyone who thought otherwise.
The Patriots, the Super Bowl regulars, were the first to face the media before their week of madness. The Philadelphia Eagles followed later that evening, bringing with them their odds-defying story and excitement reserved for a team that hadn’t been to the big game in 13 years (against the Patriots then, too, in Super XXXIX).
With a second-year head coach in Doug Pederson and a journeyman quarterback in , the Eagles arrived in a way few thought was possible when offensive tackle Jason Peters, running back and starting quarterback Carson Wentz went down with season-ending injuries.
Inside Xcel Energy Center, Eagles fans began a “Skol” chant — but only after the team’s captains were booed while entering the stage. The Vikings fans in attendance weren’t over their team’s blowout loss to Philadelphia in the NFC championship game.
The atmosphere was odd, if confusing — but one all seemed to relish.
“It’s great to see the fans. It’s great to be in this atmosphere and for our players to experience this,” Pederson said. “It’s fun. You meet a lot of great people, and I think it’s a great way for them to meet the players, meet the coaches and sort of get a sense for who we are as people and us as Eagles. ”
