The fact that the kabosh was put on it on the first half of the first game means it has no bearing whatsoever on what they do this season.
That is why the NFL, the networks and even the Jets all dropped it. They knew if they continued to stress it, they would look like complete and total idiots given the way things have gone since halftime of the first game against the Jets.
The would look like the complete moron on Free Republic who maintained that he "...knew Brady was never THAT good...he HAD to be cheating...no WAY a sixth round pick would EVER be that good..."
Personally, I think it has been a great thing for the team. It has brought them closer together and given them a cause. As a Pats fan, I like that.
People are emotionally all bent over it, because the Pats have been bending their teams over a barrel. I used to feel that way about the Cowboys back in the early seventies, but hey, I have grown up. I realize the Cowboys were a pretty good team back then, and Roger Staubach wasn't a pussy because he would slide feet first into tacklers. If people want to think the sum total of what the Patriots have done doesn't count, then...power to them. I don't live under their emotional delusions...they have to live in that world.
There will be no asterisk, anyone hoping the NFL would do that (or hoping the league would somehow award Game 1 of the season to the NY Jets) is analogous to liberals thinking that appeasing Islamofacists will make them more secure. It is a fantasy, a pipe dream, and a form of mental masturbation.
In other words, regarding that line of thought...
(By the way, this humorous (to me) line of thought was not directed towards you...I thought you stated your point of view quite cogently and politely. I just think the people who can't let it go are deserving of ridicule. But that is me...everyone is entitled to their opinion, even Don Shula and the rest of the 72 Dolphin team...:)