... been the class of the NFL since Bill Belichick became their head coach back in 2000.

Their three Lombardi Trophies, four Super Bowl appearances, 14 playoff wins, and .700 win percentage set them apart as the top franchise of the Noughties—a decade in which they endured only one losing season.

You’d figure that the home for a team like this would be, in the words of Massachusetts’ own John Winthrop, a “shining city upon a hill.”

Prior to this season, though, you’d have been wrong—or, rather, not yet right.

Gillette Stadium is, in itself, a good setting for a football game. Its three broad, flattish tiers rise almost imperceptibly from the field to a formidable stacked height, crowned by full rows of floodl...

Read Complete Article at Bleacher Report - NFL