There's an unfamiliar feeling around the New England Patriots: desperation

Bill Belichick turned his team into a winning machine by exploiting the NFL's market inefficiencies. But he appears to have abandoned a winning formula

Bill Belichick's response to the New England Patriots' first losing season in two decades was always going to be bold.

Maybe he would move up in the draft to grab his preferred quarterback. Perhaps he could engineer a trade for Russell Wilson, Deshaun Watson, or Matthew Stafford. But this? Handing out more than $160m in free agency in order to conjure up a competitive roster? It feels antithetical to everything Belichick has practiced and preached over the course of the Patriots' dynastic run.