There's another element—the most important one, the one Antonio Brown is about to experience. Another new receiver to the Patriots in 2007, Donte' Stallworth, told me he and Moss were stunned in the first team meeting by Belichick's equal-opportunity wrath-sharing.
"I was sitting next to Randy," Stallworth said Sunday, "and Bill was showing some plays from the previous season. The Patriots blew a big lead and lost to the Colts in the AFC Championship Game, and he was showing plays where the guys made some mistakes. He gets to Tom, and I remember Bill showing a short pass to a wide receiver that Tom threw really short. Just a bad pass. Bill says, "What the f--- is this?" And he says something like, I can get a kid from Foxboro High to make that throw! Randy and I looked at each other. He kinds of sits up real straight in his chair and we had this look like, Holy s---! Is this real?
"That day, we learned the truth about New England: If Tom Brady was getting it, no one was safe."