Patriots Eye AFC East Crown as Author Barrie Atkin Helps Even Football Skeptics Join the Crowd

With the New England Patriots in the driver’s seat for the AFC East title during the 2025 NFL season, just two games remain as they push for a potential top seed. While many are excited that the Patriots clinched a playoff spot in Week 16, others are still confused by football as a whole.

That’s where Barrie Atkin comes in to help.

Atkin wrote Hate Football? Fun Facts to Help You Be Part of the Crowd for people who can’t seem to avoid the game but still don’t know how to fit in when the pigskin is flying. A Swampscott resident, Atkin has followed the Patriots for more than 20 years and now enjoys helping others feel like part of the “clubhouse.”

“Football is so popular in terms of our culture,” Atkin said. “There’s something there that you will probably appreciate in the game.”

Atkin’s interest in football began in 2001, when sixth-round draft pick and second-string quarterback Tom Brady was forced into action. Starter Drew Bledsoe had been hit by a linebacker and suffered internal bleeding. While Bledsoe returned for the next series, he was still replaced by Brady for the remainder of the season – minus the ending of the AFC Championship Game. At the end of the season Bledsoe was traded to the Bills, and Brady’s status as the Patriots’ starting quarterback was cemented for 2002.

“At that point, I was a consultant. I consulted in strategy, marketing, fundraising and branding,” Atkin said. “But especially I’m a student of strategy, and I thought, ‘Why did he put in Brady?’ We all know the answer now. Brady had great chemistry…He was very adept at reading the defense and getting the ball out of the pocket quickly. All of those things combined helped support his success, so I started watching, and I was fascinated by it.”

She began reading about football to better understand the game, which only deepened her fascination.

“So I developed a signature talk with women and men in business who needed to learn or should learn about football,” Atkin said. “I started giving that talk from time to time, and then I decided to write some of it down.”

“Hate Football? Fun Facts to Help You Be Part of the Crowd” is now available in print as well as ebook. Atkin recommends “people who hang out with fans who would like to be more involved” should read it.

Only one chapter of the book focuses on the rules. Atkin recommends watching YouTube videos to go more in-depth.

Other sections explore teams and divisions, players’ mental and physical abilities, football’s presence in pop culture, women and the sport, conversation starters, and “eight things to know before you go.” There are also fun facts woven throughout the book.

“My mother was a playwright, and you could go to the theater. If you know the play, you’ve read the synopsis, you have a pretty good idea of how it ends. You don’t go there for the plot. You go for the acting and the audience and the feeling and the production values and all that,” Atkin said. “When you go to a sports event – and this isn’t just football – you have no idea how it’s going to go. On any particular day, the Patriots could beat the Bills or Tampa, with a lot of luck. There’s an amazing amount of beauty and athletic craziness that happens out there.”

From one-handed catches to the strategy behind each play, Atkin said there’s something for everyone to appreciate.

“And then you won’t feel lost, even if you don’t fully get what’s going on,” she said.

For the Patriots, the team needs one more win – or a Buffalo Bills loss – to claim the division crown going into the playoffs. The Patriots play the Jets on Sunday, December 28 at 1 p.m. BetMGM lists the Patriots as 13.5-point favorites, with a total over/under point line at 42.5, as of December 24.

The Bills, on the other hand, are up against the Philadelphia Eagles at 4:25 p.m. that day. As of December 24, BetMGM has the Bills listed as 1.5-point favorites, with a total over/under point line at 43.5.

In the final week of the regular season, the Patriots will face the Miami Dolphins at home on Sunday, January 4. Kickoff time is still to be determined. The Patriots won 33–27 in an identical matchup on September 14.

Looking ahead, the NFL wild card round will be played on Saturday, January 10 and Sunday, January 11. The divisional round will take place on Saturday, January 17 and Sunday, January 18, and the conference championships will be played Sunday, January 25.

The final big game, the Super Bowl, will be on Sunday, February 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, the home of the San Francisco 49ers.

As of December 24, the top five odds to reach the Super Bowl, set by DraftKings Sportsbook, look like: