It’s been a rough stretch for Boston sports fans. The Patriots lost the Super Bowl, the Red Sox stink, and both TD Garden tenants were bounced in the first round.
Meanwhile, over 200 miles down I-95, the Knicks and Yankees are chugging along, while Giants and Jets fans believe their teams are on the rise.
As New Yorkers savor every drop of pain that takes place to the northeast, New Englanders are looking for any sort of ammunition to fire back.
They just got some from the latest Jet-turned-Patriot, Alijah Vera-Tucker.
Speaking to the media, the 26-year-old lineman touted the Patriots’ fanbase, comparing it favorably to that of the Jets’ fanbase.
“Just the energy,” Vera-Tucker said, regarding what excites him most about playing in front of the Patriots’ crowd. “I mean, honestly, being with the Jets the past five years, whenever the Patriots either came to MetLife or we came out here, it was always great energy. Passion. You could really feel it. So, I’m definitely looking forward to that.”
Vera-Tucker isn’t necessarily wrong. The Jets struggled to fill their home games during Vera-Tucker’s time in New York due to the team’s on-field woes.
Among the seats that were filled, many of them contained opposing fans, especially when New York played New England, a team whose fans primarily live under four hours away from MetLife Stadium. Compared to fans driving through traffic from Long Island and other parts of the tri-state area, driving from New England is hardly more treacherous.
So, it stands to reason that when a 3-12 Jets team led by Brady Cook plays a 12-3 Patriots team led by Drake Maye, there will be a close split between Jets and Patriots fans.
But when the Jets are cooking, their crowd can be as raucous as any in the league, while filling up the stands and keeping Patriots fans home. Vera-Tucker should know that from New York’s 2022 and 2024 home bouts with New England, two of the loudest Jets games at MetLife Stadium over the last 15 years.
It was before Vera-Tucker’s time, but the Jets’ 2010 home game against the Patriots at MetLife Stadium featured some ear-splitting crowd pops.
Patriots fans are just as prone to making their stadium a ghost town when the team struggles. During their back-to-back four-win seasons from 2023 to 2024, New England fans didn’t show much of that “passion” that Vera-Tucker talked about.
Save for perhaps the Green Bay Packers, every NFL fanbase will show up when their team is good and stay home when their team is bad. It’s as simple as that.
Vera-Tucker joined the Patriots this offseason on a three-year, $42 million deal with $21 million guaranteed. New England is gambling on the former first-rounder’s talent when healthy, despite him playing just 43 of 85 possible games across five seasons in New York, including none in 2025.
The guard’s comments should be viewed as bulletin-board material for the Jets. If New York can get off to a hot start, especially if it involves defeating the Patriots and send their season into a tailspin, then it won’t be long until MetLife Stadium features a heck of a lot more energy than Gillette Stadium.
Fans will be passionate when they are given something to be passionate about.
