Super Bowl LIII Coverage: An Open Letter to the AFC

By Stuart Tomlin 
Before I begin, I’m gonna state for the record that the following piece is of my own personal opinions, and do not entirely represent the views of Go For It On Fourth as a whole. However, seeing as its me and Kyle predominantly, I think we’ll mostly agree on this.

As part of our Super Bowl LIII coverage, today I write an open letter to the AFC. The New England Patriots have made three successive Super Bowls. Starting next year, we need to put a stop to this.

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Dear the rest of the AFC,

We need to step up our game.

The New England Patriots are going back to the Super Bowl for the third successive time. While the rest of us will be rooting for the Los Angeles Rams this time around, like we rooted for the Atlanta Falcons two years ago and watched in horror as the Patriots completed the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history. Like we rooted for the Philadelphia Eagles, and watched in joy as Big Dick Nick won the Super Bowl for Philadelphia.

This time around, it’s the Los Angeles Rams. And honestly, it’s not a match-up I’m looking forward to. At all. There’s some stuff to like about the LA Rams – Todd Gurley is sensational, well, normally. He wasn’t great against the Saints, but I think he’s still carrying an injury. It'd be nice to see CJ Anderson get another ring. Jared Goff is a good young QB and it’s awesome to see him here in the Super Bowl. But, still, I’m not a fan of Kronke in the slightest.

However, this isn’t about the Rams. Over the next two weeks, we’ll talk about the Rams plenty.

But when it comes to the Super Bowl every year, I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of rooting against the Patriots.

This isn’t meant to be a bitch-fest. What the Patriots have done, especially in the salary cap era, is worthy of praise. Three successive Super Bowls is an incredible achievement. This is their fourth Super Bowl in FIVE YEARS.

My brother is a Patriots fan, as you know, and he picked them because he knew it would annoy the hell out of me. I admire his reasoning. I’m really happy for him, and I know how much it does mean to him. So that’s my silver lining in all of this.

It’s not even because it’s the Patriots, to be honest. It’s because it’s always the Patriots.

I do want to see new teams in the Super Bowl. If it’s not going to be the Colts, I want to see teams like the Chargers make it. Or the Ravens. Or the Steelers. Or the Chiefs. I want to see guys like Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson play in the Super Bowl. Or Phillip Rivers finally get a chance to play to win a ring. Maybe even DeShaun Watson. One day, even Baker Mayfield.

Or, for obvious reasons, Andrew Luck.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bitter about this year. This year was fun for me. The Colts made this year fun. I looked forward to watching my team again this year, and we have a really bright future ahead of us, and that’s what I’m mostly taking from this season. Luck is healthy again, we have a young defence that will get better, and a very good offensive line…and we have an absolute ton of cap space

I know a lot of you in our conference weren’t as lucky. Raiders fans, you have my upmost sympathies. What the hell has happened there? Absolute Grudenball all over the shop. Bengals and Dolphins, you had a bright start then fell to bits. Might be a rough go for a bit, especially the Dolphins, who might be tanking for a QB next year, and also have that whole Curse of the Super Bowl host to live with. Bengals, are you sticking with Dalton long term or not? At least you didn’t hire Hue Jackson? I mean how did he get himself fired twice in one season? That takes an incredible amount of incompetence.

Bills, you went back to normal after an amazing playoff appearance in 2017. Jaguars, same. My God, that was a mighty fall off the cliff. Might have been the smallest Super Bowl window in history, but you could jam it open again if you get a Quarterback. That defence’s still pretty legit. Titans, one of us had to lose in the Winner Takes All, and all due respect, but I’m glad it was you. You do need to look at the whole Mariota thing and figure out if he’s your long-term future.

Texans, it was fun, but again, glad we ended your season. Watson vs. Luck is gonna be fun for the next few years. Steelers – sort out the damn drama, for goodness sakes. There’s a reason Days of Our Steelers exist. Browns, it’s nice seeing your fanbase happy for once. Baker looks a hell of a player. Hopefully you’re on the right track. Broncos…maybe look at the whole Quarterback situation again. We’re not giving you a third successive Colts QB. Not this time.

Ravens, you look decent. Glad Lamar Jackson looks like your Quarterback of the future. Figure out what to do with Joe Flacco now, and you should be set for a while. Jets – Adam Gase…hmmm…it didn’t work for the Dolphins, but maybe he works better with Sam Darnold than he did with Tannehill? At least you’ve got the cap space to work with. Stop making Greg miserable, FFS.

Chargers, you had a brilliant year and if you didn’t play in the same division as the Chiefs, you would have been the two seed. Your window to get big Phil a ring is closing, though.

Chiefs, I probably sympathise with you most of all. You had one hell of a year and were an overtime and a coin flip loss away from a Super Bowl. What would have been your first Super Bowl since 1969. However, don’t despair. Patrick Mahomes is going to be an absolute nightmare for the rest of us for the next fifteen to twenty odd years. Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce will continue to be an absolute dominance in games. Someone compared Mahomes and Kelce to the new Gronk and Brady, and I think I agree with this.

Yes, obviously, first and foremost, I want the Colts to make the Super Bowl. But, if not us, someone else.

But we’ve got to slay the demon from Foxborough to get there.

And for the last three years, none of us have been able to.

I could go on about how they play in a weakened AFC East, I could go on about how they “cheat”, or how refereeing is in their favour, or whatever.

Let’s be honest though.

Regardless of all that, they’re a damn great team.

I hate admitting that, but they really are.

They have earned the right to be in the Super Bowl in the last three years, and there’s no denying that. Tom Brady seems ageless, and at this point it’s hard to argue against him being the GOAT. Belichick is probably the greatest coach there’s ever been. And every damn year, someone writes off the dynasty, or the “Empire is crumbling” takes come in thick and fast every year…and yet, they’re right back here again. Again.

And they’re playing the Super Bowl again this year, instead of any of us.

That has to change next year.

We all need to get better. One of us needs to slay the demon from Foxborough next year.

For the sake of all of us.

Over to you, AFC.

Don’t let us down next season.

Signed, a disgruntled AFC fan who is watching the Patriots in the Super Bowl in the third successive year.

Go Rams?

(And as always,

Go Colts)