New York (AFP) – American football dynasty the New England Patriots have been compared to the Beatles for having the same leading lights for more than a generation.
“Imagine what the Beatles would have accomplished if they had two decades together instead of one,” said Jeff Benedict, the writer of a new Apple TV+ docuseries on the sporting franchise which had the same leading figures for two decades. “The Dynasty: New England Patriots” tells the story of the Boston-area sporting juggernaut’s dominance between 2002 and 2019.
Once a team of “losers”, the “Pats”, with their star quarterback Tom Brady, won a total of six Super Bowls, and fell just short at three ill-fated finals. But their prowess on the pitch came against turbulence off it.
In 2007, the team was accused of spying on its opponents — and suffered the tumult of star player Aaron Hernandez’s conviction for murder before he took his own life in prison in 2017. “This organization was so good for so long — and they had so many things going on off the field,” said Benedict.
– ‘Unmatched resilience’ –
He devoted six years to the 2020 book “The Dynasty” and the subsequent Imagine Documentaries series, which some are already comparing to “The Last Dance,” the cult docuseries about Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. “This team has demonstrated a resilience that is unmatched in the annals of American sport,” Benedict told AFP.
Archive match footage shows how the team was able to crush its opponents. The team’s exceptional longevity is credited to Brady, coach Bill Belichick and owner Robert Kraft, a billionaire businessman who ensured their unity even when they were at loggerheads. “That was a masterstroke of diplomacy,” said Benedict.
Benedict recalls that Kraft recruited Belichick “when no one else thought he would be a good head coach.” Belichick stunned observers when he left his then-star quarterback, Drew Bledsoe, on the bench after injury, “in favor of an unproven rookie named Tom Brady.”
“The Dynasty” also shows how years later the team navigated tension between the Black players’ movement against racism and police violence, and Kraft and Belichick’s closeness to Donald Trump.
Following their win in last weekend’s Super Bowl, the culmination of the American football season, the Kansas City Chiefs are now emerging as the new force to be contended with, having won the trophy three years out of five.
A new dynasty emerges.
