SAN JOSE, Calif. — Austin Hooper doesn’t lie awake at night haunted by 28-3.
But the irony isn’t lost on him that his second trip to the Super Bowl — nine years after the first as a rookie — comes wearing the jersey of the Patriots, who caused him and his Falcons teammates so much pain with their 25-point comeback in Super Bowl 51.
“It happened the way it was supposed to,” Hooper told The Post.
How did it happen that he is on the other side now?
Through four trips to free agency — from the Falcons to the Browns to the Titans to the Raiders to the Patriots — and 141 regular-season games, but just four playoff games between his first Super Bowl and the start of the Patriots run to Super Bowl 2026?
The destination is Levi’s Stadium — less than an hour from his alma maters of De La Salle High School and Stanford — and Sunday’s game against the vaunted Seahawks secondary.
“It’s been a journey to get back here, and it makes it that much sweeter,” Hooper said. “It hasn’t always been linear. You understand it a little better. You definitely have much more sense of gratitude. To be able to get this opportunity back, in the place where I was born and raised, is pretty special.”
Hooper caught a touchdown pass during the building of the Falcons’ 28-3 lead. Then, over the final 17 minutes of regulation, everything imploded, the Patriots tied the score at 28-28 and won on a touchdown in overtime before the Falcons even could touch the ball in the extra session.
“That one sucked,” Hooper said. “But I didn’t really consider it a complete loss because it also taught me a lot of lessons. You can always find light within darkness. I remember after that my dad told me, ‘The sun will rise in the morning. No matter how good or bad something is, the next day is a new day.’ When I was 21 years old, that really resonated me after that game in that fashion. I made my peace with it a long time ago.”
Hooper sees some similarities between the 2016 Falcons — who were coming off an 8-8 season and started 6-4 during their Super Bowl season — and the 2025 Patriots. No one saw the Patriots in this season’s Super Bowl after a 4-13 finish last year and 1-2 start to this season.
“Everyone has revisionist history, but that [Falcons] team just got hot and played some good football — kind of similar to this team,” Hooper said. “Every team is unique, but this team is very connected.”
So it only would be natural if Hooper’s mind traveled to that moment and to the power of unfinished business after the Patriots beat the Broncos in the AFC Championship game two weeks ago. It didn’t.
“What I more remember from that Super Bowl is the circus component of it,” Hooper said looking around a tent in a parking lot filled with hundreds of players and media, “so I used it as a template. But I get another opportunity at this back at home. Everyone wants to win it.”
The sun will come up Monday morning even if the Seahawks win.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
