There are a lot of Patriots haters out there, and the official Gillette Stadium Twitter account seemed to have a message for them on Monday after Sunday's 24-20 comeback victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC title game.
"This isn't even close to the last confetti pic we'll be posting," the Tweet read. "Deal with it."
The field-level photo of a confetti-strewn Gillette Stadium acknowledged the dueling impulses afflicting fans outside of New England. While the team's eighth Super Bowl appearance in the Brady-Belichick Era is, on the one hand, a cause for Patriots fatigue, there's also no denying that New England is the league's biggest draw. The same fans who profess to hate the Pats would have to admit the Super Bowl is far more compelling with them in it.
That said, "Deal with it," also speaks to what many critics see as institutional arrogance. It's hard to picture the Spurs during their run or today's Warriors copping a similar attitude, for instance.