Parsing the Patriots Paradox

By Sean Gregory / Foxborough, Mass.

So you think Bill Belichick, head coach of the perfect New England Patriots, the hoodie-wrapped Houdini of the sidelines, dresses down on game days? You should check out his sartorial selections during the week. Before a practice in late November, Belichick is wearing jeans and a ratty gray shirt; it looks as if a dog--and then a hyena--has feasted on his collar.

Outside of New England, fans are howling about Belichick and his team. For a healthy dose of anti-Pats vitriol, just visit the I Hate New England Patriots and Evil Patriots blogs on the Web. Belichick is asked if this venom gets under his shredded collar. He cites The Best and the Brightest, the late David Halberstam's classic analysis of Vietnam-era leaders who were more obsessed with winning the public-relations battle than the actual fight on the ground. "I think David's book is a good example of how not to do it," Belichick tells TIME. "Run a war based on public opinion. Not that we're running a war. We get judged on our performance. And that's what drives our decisions. Performance."

After becoming just the fourth NFL team to finish the regular season undefeated, following Saturday's determined 38-35 comeback win against the New York Giants, New England has sewn up an astounding achievement. (The Pats are the first squad to finish a 16-game season undefeated.) It's even sweeter for the team because prior to this year, many experts thought Belichick was losing his touch. He revamped a team that was just one win away from the Super Bowl by trading for All-Pro malcontent Randy Moss. But Moss has behaved, and he and quarterback Tom Brady had record-breaking seasons. The result is that the Pats are odds-on to run the table through the Super Bowl, which will be played on Feb. 3 in Glendale, Ariz.

In an imperfect NFL season overshadowed by Michael Vick's jailing, the murders of two players and a host of other off-field issues, the prospect of the Pats as champs seems oddly appropriate. After all, it's also a safe bet that these Pats will be forever tarnished by the Spygate affair, in which the team was caught trying to steal an opponent's signs, using a sideline camera. On the surface, more controversy would seem like the last thing the league needs. But it turns out the Patriots are the ideal villains. The drama inherent in their chase for an unblemished record and the emotions the team engenders make these imperfect Pats perfect for the NFL--and especially for the league's bottom line.

Belichick Beats the System

We owe the Patriots paradox to Bellichick. At the beginning of New England's 2001-04 run of three Super Bowl victories, he was Nice Bill, a tireless if disheveled football chess master who had finally escaped the capacious shadow of Bill Parcells, the Super Bowl-winning coach for whom he had toiled as a longtime assistant. Claiming three of four Super Bowls is a truly mind-boggling feat, given that the NFL's salary-cap structure is designed to spread the wealth and prevent dominance. It takes some kind of football genius to escape the league's parity policy.

Maybe an evil genius. Because starting last season, our relationship with Belichick frayed. Evil Bill barely acknowledged the existence of Eric Mangini, a formerly loyal aide who had the audacity to take a job as head coach of the division-rival New York Jets. Belichick looked petty in the process. Then he shoved a cameraman at a traditional postgame handshake. Off the field, he was dragged through the front pages of tabloids as the alleged other man in a divorce case.

Then came the unholiest offense of all. During the first game of this season, against the hated Jets, the Pats were caught illegally videotaping New York's defensive signals. Spygate cost Belichick a $500,000 fine and the Pats a first-round draft pick this year. Belichick wasn't exactly contrite about it, issuing a statement of apology and then refusing to answer questions. "I've said everything I'm going to say," Belichick responded when TIME recently asked him about Spygate.

Others are still talking, including members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins, set on preserving their legacy. Don Shula, who coached those Dolphins--the only team in NFL history to stay unbeaten through the Super Bowl--said if New England finished undefeated, an asterisk should be placed next to its record because of Spygate. He later recanted those remarks, but kicker Garo Yepremian insists that "a few" asterisks be attached to the Pats. Says Hall of Fame coach and ex-Buffalo Bills general manager Marv Levy: "I saw one or two other former coaches say, Oh, everybody does it. Baloney. I didn't do it, and I know many others who didn't do that type of thing ... It will diminish the impact of an accomplishment like going undefeated. "

Why We Love to Hate the Pats

The NFL could hardly use more strife this season. This summer the league had to hold a "concussion summit" to tackle the growing problem of career-shortening brain injuries suffered on the football field. Older retired players, broken and broke, clamored for better disability benefits, portraying the league, its rich young players and their union as greedy. Bad player behavior--Adam (Pacman) Jones' involvement in a strip-club shooting, Vick's ties to a dogfighting ring--forced commissioner Roger Goodell to enforce unprecedented penalties for off-field incidents. Then there were tragedies: Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams was murdered early New Year's Day, 2007; Washington's Sean Taylor was slain in November.

So along come the cheating Patriots. The NFL must be ruing this, right? Wrong. Very wrong. "I've got to tell you, there's no one in the NFL sad about New England's issues," says Marc Ganis, president of Sportcorp, a marketing firm that has consulted for the league. "A team that is exceptional and that has controversy surrounding it offers the best possible situation."

How's that? Pats fans want their team to win, but just as important, another large group of fans watches to witness history or get the satisfaction of seeing the favorites fall. And that means ratings. Patriots games have been the four most watched shows on all of broadcast television so far this season. An astounding 34.5 million people watched the Pats' finale against the Giants. A Monday night game between New England and the awful Baltimore Ravens drew 17.5 million viewers to ESPN, making it the most watched program in cable-television history, surpassing the 17.2 million who watched the debut of High School Musical 2 on the Disney Channel last summer.

"It's a weird thing," says Edward Hirt, an Indiana University psychology professor who has studied fan behavior. "Fans' emotions are often conflicted, which is even surprising to themselves. The Pats offer a kind of win-win situation. You can root against them, but you kind of wouldn't mind seeing a perfect season. And if they lose, you'll enjoy seeing them get their comeuppance." As for that drab, villainous coach everyone supposedly despises: Belichick's trademark hooded sweatshirt is now the top-selling Patriots merchandise item. The hoodie! "I wish I was getting a cut of the sales," says a smiling Belichick. (Yes, folks, he smiles.)

New Direction to Perfection

The Pats are also arresting because in order to build this historic team, Belichick changed the game plan. To give Brady better targets to throw to, he traded for both the troubled Moss and Dolphins wideout Wes Welker. He also picked up receiver Donte Stallworth in free agency and signed linebacker Adalius Thomas to a five-year, $35 million deal, the richest unrestricted free-agent contract in team history. For a franchise known for steadily building teams through the draft, low-profile trades and free-agent deals, this overhaul was unexpected.

The Patriots have also sought out solid athletic citizens, so the Moss trade was particularly astonishing. The ex-All Pro had worn out his welcome in both Minnesota and Oakland and was coming off the worst season of his career. Before the deal was finalized, owner Robert Kraft met with Moss and explained life in New England. "He understood what was important to me and my family and how we run this franchise," says Kraft. "What goes on--on and off the field--is a reflection of my family name. He said to me, 'Mr. Kraft, I've made a lot of money. I want to win. I want to be a Patriot.'" Moss took a pay cut, has been a model player and caught 23 touchdown passes, breaking Jerry Rice's single-season record. He roams the locker room in a T shirt that reads BE HUMBLE, OR GET HUMBLED.

Can Anyone End the Ride?

If the Pats falter in the playoffs--and don't count out Peyton Manning and his 13-3 Indianapolis Colts--the loss would taint New England's regular season more than any phantom asterisk. No wonder the players haven't exactly embraced perfection; it actually adds layers of pressure to the postseason and puts them in a near no-win situation. If the Pats triumph--ho-hum, they were supposed to do that. And if they lose? "It'll all be for nothing," says CBS analyst and former Giants quarterback Phil Simms. "In fact, we'll hold it against them. They can't enjoy it."

Yes, New England's team-first, one-game-at-a-time gospel may bore us. We want them to talk about the streak, but they won't. That's probably why they'll end up undefeated. No team blocks out distractions like New England. No team is more oblivious to how fans perceive them. "Who cares?" says veteran safety Rodney Harrison. "It's not about someone liking you. This is a business. We understand what people are going to say about us. But at the same time, we don't care. We can't care."