Getty
The New England Patriots traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, for the Super Bowl about a week ago. While this has been an extremely exciting time for the Pats, the trip has been a little more special for one player in particular: center David Andrews.
Andrews hails from Atlanta, making the trip to Super Bowl LIII a homecoming of sorts. In fact, Andrews’ high school — where he used to play football — is located less than 25 miles away from Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where Andrews and his teammates will face the Los Angeles Rams in tonight’s epic showdown.
After playing football for the University of Georgia, Andrews finally got a shot to play in the NFL. He was not selected in the 2015 NFL Draft but the Patriots offered him a deal shortly after — and Andrews hasn’t looked back. He moved to Massachusetts with his now-wife, Mackenzie (the two wed in 2017), not really knowing what to expect in New England.
And while he’s played for the Patriots for three seasons now, Andrews has never played an NFL game at “home.” The media has highlighted this trip to Atlanta as super exciting for Andrews and his family, but he has remained completely level-headed through it all.
Perhaps adopting the Bill Belichick way of expressing one’s emotions, Andrews is focused on the game ahead and nothing more.
“I’m really not going home. I’m going to work,” Andrews said at Gillette Stadium before heading to the airport with his team.
“What you’re going to remember and what you’re going to value and treasure is the result of the game. You’re not really going to say, ‘Oh, that Wednesday was super fun because we did something.’ You’re really going to be focused on the result. That’s what you remember 20, 30, 40 years down the road,” he added.
When asked if his family was excited to have him “home” and playing the Super Bowl in Atlanta, Andrews was just as chill about it.
“They’d be excited if it was in Alaska,” he said.
When the season is over, win or lose, Andrews says he will be happy to head back to Georgia.
“I’m not really focused on what I’m going to do there. I’ll save that for about three more weeks when I’m back home in the offseason and can really do what I want. Right now, I’m just trying to win this football game,” he explained.
Interestingly, Andrews posted a different kind of reaction on social media after winning the AFC Championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs two weeks ago.
“We’re coming home,” he captioned a photo of himself with his wife in his arms. You can check out the photo below.
Mackenzie Andrews shared the same photo, praising her husband and the Patriots in her caption.
“3 Super Bowls in 3 years… I’m just so dang proud of you,” she wrote.
There is no doubt that Sunday is going to be a special day for Andrews, despite how focused on the game he is. And, who knows? There might be a moment that he stands on that field and realizes just how awesome his full-circle NFL journey has been.