The way this article is written, it almost seems as if Bowen lost a bet that required him to mancrush the Patriots for several paragraphs. He goes on and on but doesn't say anything pertinent.
Free agents want to play to play for NE? How is this groundbreaking? History has shown us that teams that are consistent winners and have a bankroll don't struggle to sign free agents. It's not as if New England is the first franchise to ever capitalize on this trend. And, as has been mentioned, the Patriots ability to land big name free agents (which is very open to definition) isn't exactly dominant. Maybe the word "veteran" free agents should be used here.
Dismissing Spygate as an "everybody does it" ploy is weak. I don't doubt that every team in the NFL has it's cloak and dagger tendencies in an attempt to find an advantage, but fact is, New England's the only ones that got caught. If, in fact, everyone's doing it, don't you think the Patriots would've made it their mission in life to expose all the other offenders as soon as they got in the hot seat? Why wouldn't anyone have been caught since? Did they all immediately stop? Prior to Spygate, I was a huge fan of Belichek, but I definitely lost a measure of respect for him in the aftermath. I still think the guy is a brilliant coach but similar to the baseball steroid scandals, I can't help but wonder about New England's past success and ponder what was genuine versus what was "assisted".
Lastly, why is Bowen talking about a Patriots dynasty? Didn't this end with their Super Bowl loss a year ago? This article is a bit dated.
Despite my comments above, I'd rank the Patriots front office among the best. They do a solid job and Belichek, better than any coach in the league, instills a team first mentality. For this, I have a ton of respect and admiration for the Patriots. However, I'm not ready to accept that there is a mentality among NFL teams and players that it's New England alone on top of the mountain, and everyone else begging for scraps.