This situation, imho, does little to the Patriot Way. It could impact it to a somewhat tangible degree as the case unfurls, possibly. But the Patriot Way continues to exist. The problem for some is the misinterpretation of what the Patriot Way is. It was never about having quasi boy scouts on the team. For god's sake, LT is probably one of BB's favorite players of all time. If LT was younger and would have been available for BB in 2001 or 2012, he would have picked him in a heart beat.
Some Patriot's players in 2001 and 2006 and 2012 likely hung out at shady Strip Clubs (as opposed to the real class ones
), at the wrong night clubs, hang around the wrong people, hang out too late, smoke dope, drink too much, drive after drinking, etc etc. Two things make the Patriot Way:
One, you don't get arrested/you don't bring negative attention to your off field life. And If you did prior to coming to the Patriots, incidents like that are behind you. Short of the uncertainty of AH (who may be innocent) this pretty much remains.
Two, you take your job EXTREMELY seriously/winning is of 1000% importance including not needing personal glorification attention on the field. #2 is still the case.
With that said, if the worst case scenario occurs and AH is found to be a criminal participant in the death of someone or in a conspiracy connected to that, or is arrested for it and hard evidence suggests guilt to a sufficient degree, the Patriot Way takes a bit of a hit, fairly or not. But once the Patriots take the field this season, if they win most of their games and the team conducts themselves on the field as they have ever since BB took over, the damage will have been mostly fleeting.