Growing up in New England during Super Bowl years, Pat Freiermuth adjusts Steelers-Patriots rivalry perspective

Whenever Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth catches a pass Sunday at Acrisure Stadium, expect the now familiar “Muuuuth” chants to be even louder than normal.

Well, that’s if the 50 to 60 friends and family showing up to watch him play this week are actually going to be rooting for the Steelers.

The jury is still out on that one, apparently.

“I assume they are all wearing Steelers stuff. But we’ll see what happens,” Freiermuth said on Wednesday after practice.

Indeed, there might be a confusing emotion or two in the Freiermuth rooting section during Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots. Even Freiermuth himself has had to shelve some old New England loyalties since being drafted by the Steelers. He grew up an ardent Patriots fan in Massachusetts.

Born in 1998, the Brady-Belichick Patriots dynasty had already earned a couple of Super Bowl rings by the time Freiermuth started elementary school. They earned two more and went to three Super Bowls while he was enrolled in high school at the Brooks School in North Andover, Mass.

During that time, Freiermuth attended a football camp organized by All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski.

“I loved the Patriots. They were my team. But I’m looking forward to taking it to them on Sunday,” Freiermuth said. “Gronk was my guy. Tom Brady was my guy. All of them. It is pretty cool to play them. It really is.”

More sports news

• Najee Harris says his foot is 'good,' but he's willing to let Jaylen Warren share some snaps
• First Call: Huge TV ratings for Steelers game; Pittsburgh names to bet on for Dallas QB spot; Marian Hossa's honor vs. Pens
• U mad, bro?: Steelers fans are wound up about T.J. Watt's injury, Mitch Trubisky's 1st game, Pittsburgh sports media

Freiermuth admits that even though he grew up a nationally recruited high school football prospect, he wasn’t necessarily watching the Patriots with an eye toward being an NFL player, breaking down the X’s-and-O’s of Bill Belichick’s defensive schemes or anything of that sort. He was just a fan cheering on his team.

“I had no idea I’d be here right now, playing against the Patriots. So I never really watched them saying, ‘Oh, they are running this kind of coverage.’ I was just watching them ball out and win games and win Super Bowls,” Freiermuth said. “It’s honestly going to be cool to play against (Bill) Belichick.”

And Freiermuth isn’t afraid to admit that as a young fan, he built up some animosity toward the Steelers.

“I hated the Steelers,” Freiermuth laughed. “But truthfully, I’m glad that I’m here right now.”

Many Steelers fans are as well, after Freiermuth’s solid rookie season and his five catches for 75 yards in last week’s game against the Bengals. Fellow tight end Zach Gentry added two catches for 40 yards. As this new-look Steelers offense evolves in Year 1 post-Ben Roethlisberger, Freiermuth hopes the trend of targeting the tight ends continues.

“It’s huge. Having that threat in the middle of the field opens up the guys on the outside. That helps us be more balanced,” Freiermuth said.

Having grown up hearing about the Patriots constantly morphing and disguising defenses, Freiermuth knows that the Steelers offense has to be prepared for multiple looks.

“We know that they do a million different things and disguises and stuff like that. But there are built-in keys for every single play on what they do. So we should be able to be successful,” Freiermuth said.

And if that success comes with a 2-0 start while at the expense of some conflicted emotions in his expanded cheering section Sunday, for Freiermuth, it’ll be worth it.