FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - To really understand what Bill Belichick has accomplished during his tenure with the New England Patriots, we must first remember the state of the franchise before he arrived.

And not just the fact the franchise needed four head coaches to get through the 1990s. Or that it won just 68 of the 160 games it played during that decade. Or that it was regularly an afterthought in its own division, never mind the league at large.

Instead, remember that before Belichick came to town in 2000, Foxborough was a place about as welcoming as old Schaefer Stadium itself. It was football's equivalent of frozen metal bleachers, a place so dreadfully uninviting and unappealing that New England was hardly ever a viable option for the top-flight talent in free agency. Remember, it was a place future Hall of Famers like Bill Parcells and Curtis Martin couldn't wait to escape.

But when Belichick opened his 10th training camp as the Pats head coach last week, he did so in an entirely different place than he did his first. And not only because practice was held behind the state-of-the-art Gillette Stadium.

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