I remember the Super Bowl runs well, I was a young teenager for wide right. Those are your most formative years as a sports fan, so I was hooked.
My issue with the Patriots are simple. They cheat, and their fans have no sense of the history of the game.
I lived in Boston for several years and was there for the first, improbable super bowl run on the back (foot) of Vinateri and some backup QB from Michigan. That city was always a baseball town, first and foremost. People barely knew or cared there was an NFL team down there next to Rhode Island. After the Pats win that night, I distinctly remember a “Yankees Suck!” chant breaking out in the Beacon Hill Pub.
True Pats fans that can name any player prior to 2000 are few and far between. Contrast that with Packers and Steelers and Bills fans.
As far as the cheating, they’ve admitted to it and accepted sanctions on two separate occasions. They are more tainted than Barry Bonds and Jose Canseco competing in the Balco All-Drug Olympics.
So while I get that Patriots dominance is all some younger fans know, trust us older folks when we tell you it will come to an end.