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The last time Steelers tackle Alejandro Villanueva made national headlines, he was the lone Steeler to appear for “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the game against the Chicago Bears back in September. Villenueva’s show of patriotism catapulted his jersey sales to #1 in the NFL the following week. Not too shabby for a lineman.
A deeper dive into Villanueva’s story brought forth his extensive military background. Villanueva was a Captain in the United States Army, in which he served as an Army Ranger and was awarded a Bronze Star for valor during his three tours in Afghanistan.
Speaking with Joe Starkey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Villanueva said that one much needed distraction for military personnel serving overseas is football. Villanueva, of a military family, was a diehard Patriots fan–as he started following football in middle school in Rhode Island.
“And yeah, I used to talk about the Patriots all the time because back in the day, my old self, my old rebel years — I don’t even know what I was thinking — I was a Patriots fan.”
“Huge Brady fan, yes,” he said, apologetically.
Villanueva claims that Brady and the Patriots helped him through some difficult times during his three tours in Afghanistan with the Army. But, the 29-year-old respect for Brady runs deeper than the regional allegiance he once had.
“The crazy thing is, I get calls from people who are overseas, secretive places, doing really tough missions, and they say that when they have a bad mission, bad day, Tom Brady will (video-teleconference) them or will talk to them, you know?” he said. “It’s one of those things where regardless of how competitive we are — and obviously Steelers-Patriots for us, maybe not so much for them, is such an important game on the schedule — you can put football aside and really look up to a player who’s doing great things for servicemen and women.
“I mean, that means a lot.”
The 10-3 Patriots face off against the 11-2 Steelers this Sunday for AFC supremacy. Villanueva will doing everything in his power to beat the team who he once revered.