– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA — For defensive backs Craig Woodson and Dell Pettus, in their first and second years in the National Football League, respectively, they both have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cap the best memories of their football lives this Sunday inside Levi’s Stadium during Super Bowl LX while wearing the colors of the New England Patriots.
The same uniforms they both couldn’t stand looking at just a few years ago.
It goes without saying that many of the Super Bowls of the recent past have been heavily tinted in the red, nautical blue and new century silver of the franchise that has won, and appeared in, the most Super Bowl championships, with the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick alliance making the Big Game in half of the 18 contests on offer between 2001 and 2018, winning six of those times. The championships, hoodies, “Let’s F$#@^@! Go!” chants and acts of alleged (Deflategate) and confirmed (Spygate) cheating all contributed to New England being a rightful contender to the Dallas Cowboys’ throne of being dubbed America’s Team.
America’s Team to Hate, that is. Amongst the legion of haters during this dynastic run were a couple of Southern kids whose young football journeys were still far away from their stopover in Foxboro.
“Initially I got sick of it, bro,” Woodson said to A Lot of Sports Talk on Monday. “I was tired of it and I was like, dang, they need to let somebody else win.”
Twelve years ago, that somebody else was the Seahawks, famously one yard away from going back-to-back and doing something the New York Giants had only done at that time in taking down a Brady-led New England in the Super Bowl. We all know what happened, and Seattle never did get that final yard courtesy of then-reserve defensive back Malcolm Butler.
It also started nightmares for many young Seahawks, including one specific one living in Alabama: Pettis, a reserve defensive back on this year’s AFC champions.
“At that moment, I was sick” Pettus said about his first reaction to Butler’s game-sealing interception. “It just ruined my whole night … Any other time that they replayed it on SportsCenter, anywhere I saw that clip it would just make me relive that memory. It lasted for a little bit.”
In the ultimate “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” moment, Woodson, the rookie second-round pick who is entrenched as New England’s starting free safety, and Pettus, the second-year pro who’s been a valuable member of the special teams units, are pieces on a revamped New England Patriots roster that jelled extraordinarily well under first-year head coach Mike Vrabel, taking a team coming off back-to-back 4-13 seasons and shepherding it to the precipice of a seventh Lombardi Trophy.
That’s sick … and no longer sickening.
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