It's Better to Be Feared: The New England Patriots Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness

Over two unbelievable decades, the New England Patriots were not only the NFL’s most dominant team, but also—and by far—the most secretive. How did they achieve and sustain greatness—and what were the costs?
In It's Better to Be Feared, Seth Wickersham, one of the country’s finest long form and investigative sportswriters, tells the full, behind-the-scenes story of the Patriots, capturing the brilliance, ambition, and vanity that powered and ultimately unraveled them. Based on hundreds of interviews conducted since 2001, Wickersham’s chronicle is packed with revelations, taking us deep into Bill Belichick’s tactical ingenuity and Tom Brady’s unique mentality while also reporting on their divergent paths in 2020, including Brady’s run to the Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Raucous, unvarnished, and definitive...

Publishing date is Oct. 12. I'd rather get it first hand than read media takes so I've ordered it and I'll give a report.

 

Just got a copy at the public library. So far nothing that I would call controversial, but only up to 2004 season.

 

"behind-the-scenes story of the Patriots, capturing the brilliance, ambition, and vanity that powered and ultimately unraveled them."

Wait Wut? We've been unraveled? When did that happen? Was that back in 2014? Or when? We've been pronounced dead so many times that I can't keep track. Even cats are envious of the Patriots ability to land on their feet..

Now that this thread has been re-opened, let me repeat my first reaction: Unraveled? We're hardly unraveled. We lost players but the dynasty is as dead as it was when Trent Dilfer said, "Face it, guys, the Patriots just are good any more," after the 2014 Chiefs game, and any number of games after which numbnuts proclaimed that Brady just fell off a cliff. Yeah yeah.. Heard the same thing after the playoff loss to Buffalo. Everyone in the world who isn't a Pats fan grabs hold of anything they can to keep believing the Patriots are done. The fact that they made the playoffs with a rookie QB who played better than the average is irrelevant. "He hit his ceiling." Bwa ha ha.

The dynasty isn't over. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? No. It ain't over until we say it's over!

 

Will we finally find out about Butlergate?

 

Will we finally find out about Butlergate?

Butler knows. BB knows.
If Butler didn't do something to cause his benching he would have been saying horrendous things about the Pats since he left.
He's said nothing.

He's scheduled to speak at today's 2 PM OTA presser.

 

Butler knows. BB knows.
If Butler didn't do something to cause his benching he would have been saying horrendous things about the Pats since he left.
He's said nothing.

He's scheduled to speak at today's 2 PM OTA presser.

Sounds right.
I'll be all ears. But I don't expect much besides "happy to be here".

Cheers

 

Butler knows. BB knows.
If Butler didn't do something to cause his benching he would have been saying horrendous things about the Pats since he left.
He's said nothing.

He's scheduled to speak at today's 2 PM OTA presser.

Full circle. Another veteran player signs with the Pats toward the end of their career

 

Full circle. Another veteran player signs with the Pats toward the end of their career

According to the book Butler gave a "half assed effort" during SB practice and had "words" with Matt P". The coaches felt that they would be better off without him during the game and BB went along with it. Didn't give any reason why they didn't make him inactive though.
I skipped ahead of where I was to read that part.

 

Finished the book and I would not recommend it. It did seem to be written witht pro TFB and slightly anti BB agenda.
A couple of things that I got out of it was:
I would not want to work for BB, but I would want him to work for me.
I think TFB was afraid to deal with issues directly with BB. Instead he would try end runs trying to use others including Kraft to try to get what what he wanted.
We tend to forget how many times Tom would make big mistakes in big games, only to recover and pull it out.
That's about it.

 

Finished the book and I would not recommend it. It did seem to be written witht pro TFB and slightly anti BB agenda.
A couple of things that I got out of it was:
I would not want to work for BB, but I would want him to work for me.
I think TFB was afraid to deal with issues directly with BB. Instead he would try end runs trying to use others including Kraft to try to get what what he wanted.
We tend to forget how many times Tom would make big mistakes in big games, only to recover and pull it out.
That's about it.

I was excited to read it, initially (out of sheer curiosity). Now, not even a little. To me, these are more "things that happen at work over a long period of time" issues and it's not juicy enough to read in a book, and it's certainly not unique to the New England Patriots.