I need to look into this. Interesting its been going on this long. Grew up with Grogan so never got to experience it back then. Any suggestions other than google? =)
There are several books on the AFL/NFL war.
NFL Purists/Loyalists simply bought the NFL line that the 'upstart' league was second rate, and it was indeed fledgling. Bob Kraft experienced first hand the cheap operation of Sullivan's Boston Patriots, when his dad took him and his brother to the games.
The NBC contract gave the league legitimacy - and badly needed money. NFL rejects like Blanda turned out to be MVP's. I hate the Jets but I still acknowledge that the Namath signing in NY was critical, Joe was indeed a great, deserved Hall of Fame player, a good guy and a good ambassador for the league, and furthermore he was one of the few people anywhere who correctly saw and stated that the Patriots were in fact very good, from his first hand experience playing against us.
When the merger - initiated by the NFL, who smartly recognized they'd got their asses kicked - was consummated, all of a sudden they were one big happy league - and all that derision and later, corruption was directed squarely at us. Billy Sullivan had to scramble to get Schaefer built, and though he did it on the cheap, I was always excited and appreciative for just having a team.
We did struggle on the field, during the longest losing streak in franchise history (1967-1973), which made it easy to ridicule us.
But blame for the out of control denigration and defamation of the team's significant on field success, which took off thanks to Fairbanks, lies with the local Boston media. The loud, boisterous legion of Patriots fans who literally hate their own team believe what the media says, and fall for every inappropriately negative spin and take on the local team. It's ironic that one of the few places you could see recognition of the Patriots was NFL Films, but Sabol wasn't a league patsy.
Regarding Steve, if you look at the numerous huge wins throughout his career which included one (1) losing season in 13 years, Grogan was the primary reason for them. He's rightfully popular but objectively badly underrated.