Nestled in a smallish town in the rolling hills of New England, the home of the NFL's most dominant team isn't the easiest stadium to get to on a Sunday afternoon. There is only one major road into the place and when fans from throughout the region converge on Gillette Stadium to watch their Patriots, gridlock is guaranteed.
The road to the Super Bowl is supposed to be at least as difficult to negotiate.
Congested with salary-cap restrictions designed in part to create parity, NFL franchises aren't expected to make regular visits to the big show.
Win one and rebuild is closer to the prescribed formula.
Tell that to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, a winner and game MVP in two of the past three title games.
Or coach Bill Belichick and player personnel guru Scott Pioli, whose collective genius has unlocked the puzzle.
Or to the rest of the NFL, which hasn't found a way to stop the Patriots in 20 consecutive games, including New England's three playoff victories last winter.
The Pats will try to make it 21 in a row late this afternoon here in Foxboro, Mass., against the New York Jets.
A win would set the league record for consecutive regular-season wins at 18 and continue the team's path to history.
"I don't know about our legacy," Patriots offensive co-ordinator Charlie Weiss said after the latest Super Bowl win this past February. "But two titles in three years in the environment of the NFL these days is quite an achievement."
Yes, what the Patriots have accomplished has defied the laws of the restrictive salary cap introduced in the 1993 collective bargaining agreement, a document designed to keep owners rich and all 32 teams competitive.
That the Patriots are the favourites to win Super Bowl XXXIX is inching the franchise toward elite status.
"The Patriots achievement is not only unprecedented, but remarkable when you consider how competitive our league is today," NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said when the team won its 19th in a row a couple of weeks back.
As contrary to the grand plan as the Pats have been, it is unlikely there is serious gnashing of teeth in the NFL's Manhattan headquarters. After all, the league never has been more popular or prosperous.
Helped by that salary cap, the most stringent in all of pro sports, owners are getting obese off a gluttonous TV contract worth more than $1 billion US annually.
But that CBA also seemed to be designed to take the "D" word out of the playbook. Forget the Packers of the '60s, the Steelers of the '70s, 49ers of the '80s and Cowboys of the '90s. Dynasties were supposed to be dead.
"According to the parameters of the game as it's played today, you can't keep a team together," former 49ers general manager and coach Bill Walsh said. "The Yankees can do it with money and tradition, but it's truly tough in football because of the numbers you need."
Those numbers can strangle less creative management. The current cap of $80.5 million -- up from $75 million a year ago -- is spread over a 53-man roster. That allows for millionaires and multi-millionaires, but also requires minimum wage earners to make the payroll work.
The carrot for players is unrestricted free agency. When a player's contract expires, he is free to get rich and often finds multiple suitors.
If a winning team has too many star players and all demand huge increases, however, decisions have to be made and valuable bodies end up elsewhere. When the Baltimore Ravens won the 2001 Super Bowl, for example, the dismantling was immediate because of a roster bloated with high salaries.
Consensus is that a team has a small window to contend and win before the cap clock strikes midnight.
"I think a veteran team can look to, at the most, three years of sustained viability as a true contender," former Cleveland Browns president Carmen Policy said. "Staying on top is not only more problematic, it's impossible."
So how have the Patriots managed to turn impossible into a unique opportunity to win three Bowls in four years?
The man who will attempt to halt the streak this afternoon, Jets coach Herman Edwards, offers one reason.
"Along with having good players, I think a lot of times they go unnoticed because they're not a team that really tries to showcase any players," Edwards said this week. "They play as a football team and that's a tribute to their staff and players buying into that team concept."
Tom Brady may be the only exception to Edwards' example. He has gone from underrated to unmatched in terms of efficiency and is one of the most popular athletes in the Boston area. But most of the team maintains a low-key approach to perfect and execute clearly defined assignments.
"You never see us celebrating individually," linebacker Tedy Bruschi said. "We celebrate as a team."
Further to that, only three Pats were named to the Pro Bowl last season -- cornerback Ty Law, linebacker Willie McGinest and defensive lineman Richard Seymour.
There are teams with a deeper top 10 spots on the roster, but none match the Patriots production from the bottom 20.
This is where Pioli and Belichick thrive. Both have a keen eye for securing bargain players who can be plugged into the system and be effective.
Then there is the cajoling from Belichick to get even the stars to buy into the team-first mantra. He has made it clear who is boss and there is no room for showboaters.
The players brought in, buy in, even running back Corey Dillon who was troubled in Cincinnati but has thrived in New England.
"We play for a coach we have great respect for," Brady said. "We feel we have a great advantage every time we step on the field because of our plan.
"He isn't a coach who says, 'You guys played great, way to go, take the day off.' He is demanding."
Of course, in Brady, Belichick has found the textbook player for his coaching philosophy. All of those dynasty teams had quarterbacks with varying degrees of flash. Brady, who has a career record of 45-12, fits that category and may be the sharpest decision-maker since 49ers great Joe Montana.
"The quarterback is a position where there are a million things involved," Belichick said. "But Tom works hard, he's smart, he's accurate. I would start with those."
It has made Brady a star and the Patriots a standout in a salary-cap era.
Indianapolis Colts president Bill Polian has referred to the cap as "the great equalizer."
In the past five seasons, 14 NFL teams have made it to a conference championships. Somehow, in the past three seasons the Patriots have won two Super Bowls.
"I don't want to get into all of that," Belichick says when the word dynasty is mentioned. "The NFL is so competitive, 32 teams on a level field banging their heads to get here. It's hard to think that way."
