The piece echos what I said in my post in the BB appreciation thread... However, it is said with much better style and in a much more succinct fashion with better prose...
Benedict absolutely nails it - The way this team was prepared week in week out, year in year out is nothing short of amazing - which will be why it will be so difficult to replicate.
Every single minute of every single game TB & BB were paired together as starter/hc - every minute of football - meant something. They were always in the hunt for the post season - Never a game, a half, a quarter where the Patriots were not in contention for the playoffs. Even in 2002 and 2016 we were still in it until the season was complete, only missing out because of ridiculous tie breakers. In at least half of those special years The Patriots were serious contenders for the Lombardi.