One effective — and let’s admit, satisfying — way Patriots fans can further annoy fan bases from other NFL cities is to deploy the smugness that comes from having a variety pack of Super Bowl appearances and victories to compare and contrast.
The Patriots will be making their 11th Super Bowl appearance Sunday, extending their own record, and it will be the ninth of the phenomenal, enduring Tom Brady/Bill Belichick two-decade dynasty. NFL Films must have more compelling footage of those two in big games than any other tandem in league history, and it cannot be close.
Because the Patriots are facing the Rams Sunday, the comparison to past Super Bowl glory this week has been an obvious one: That first meeting with the Rams, in Super Bowl 36, when, as Rams receiver Ricky Proehl said into the NFL Films camera before the game, “A dynasty is born tonight.