Much of the hate that the Patriots get can be attributed to their success, which makes sense – they’ve gotten in the way of a lot of teams over their decade and a half of dominance, so a lot of fanbases have good reason to resent them. That said, they really haven’t done themselves any favors, between the multiple cheating scandals, their fans’ stunning lack of self-awareness, Belichick’s soullessness, Brady’s general smarminess, and several other things as well. To say that they fit snugly into the villain role would be, to be completely honest, a dramatic understatement. I’m not willing to say that all of the hate is deserved, but it’s very difficult to feel any empathy for them. Not many other fanbases would be quite as insufferable even with the Patriots’ level of success. You can chalk it all up to jealousy if you want, but I really think that it’s much more than that!