I'm now paid to present an NFL game every weekend, so I'm following the sport a LOT more than I used to. But that aside, I'd still be watching the NFL just as ravenously this year as I have every other year of my sporting fandom - and e.g. yesterday's Falcons-Redskins game, which I wasn't involved in at all, was utterly joyous to me in a way that few if any sporting events I've watched this year have been.
I wonder if it's easier for Pats fans to disengage from the NFL simply because your team has already achieved pretty much everything an NFL team can possibly achieve, and there are no worlds left to conquer - only to reconquer. But then, I'm generally quite fascinated by the mentality of Boston fans given everything the Pats and Red Sox and Celtics and even Bruins have achieved over the last few decades - a mentality which seems utterly remote from my experiences as an Atlanta fan first (with my Boston fandom generally being a very distant second). See this thread, for example.
I wonder if it's easier for Pats fans to disengage from the NFL simply because your team has already achieved pretty much everything an NFL team can possibly achieve, and there are no worlds left to conquer - only to reconquer. But then, I'm generally quite fascinated by the mentality of Boston fans given everything the Pats and Red Sox and Celtics and even Bruins have achieved over the last few decades - a mentality which seems utterly remote from my experiences as an Atlanta fan first (with my Boston fandom generally being a very distant second). See this thread, for example.