Tom Brady: Steelers tackle is a huge fan of Patriots QB

Dec. 15 (UPI) -- When the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers face-off this weekend, one offensive tackle will be close to one of his idols.

Steelers offensive lineman Alejandro Villanueva admitted his Tom Brady fandom recently in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

"Huge Brady fan, yes," Villanueva told the Post-Gazette.

He started his fandom as a young boy in Rhode Island. It strengthened as he grew older.

The Steelers tackle served three tours of duty in the Army. He says he still gets calls from people overseas. They tell him that Brady sometimes video-teleconferences them or calls them after a tough day or mission.

"It's one of those things where regardless of how competitive we are - and obviously Steelers-Patriots for us, maybe not so much for them, is such an important game on the schedule - you can put football aside and really look up to a player who's doing great things for servicemen and women."

"I mean, that means a lot."

Brady, 40, faces off against Villanueva's Steeelers at 4:25 p.m. on Sunday at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. The game has huge AFC playoff implications.

Brady is coming off of one of his worst efforts of the season. But he posted an interesting message on his Instagram account Thursday. It was a poem from Douglas Malloch.

"The tree that never had to fight," Brady wrote.

"For sun and sky and air and light, But stood out in the open plain And always got its share of rain, Never became a forest king But lived and died a scrubby thing."

"The man who never had to toil To gain and farm his patch of soil, Who never had to win his share Of sun and sky and light and air, Never became a manly man But lived and died as he began."

"Good timber does not grow with ease: The stronger wind, the stronger trees; The further sky, the greater length; The more the storm, the more the strength. By sun and cold, by rain and snow, In trees and men good timbers grow."

"Where thickest lies the forest growth, We find the patriarchs of both. And they hold counsel with the stars Whose broken branches show the scars Of many winds and much of strife. This is the common law of life."

The Instagram post has a photo of Brady playing against the Steelers in the background.

Look out Steel City.