The conversation is a familiar and often uncomfortable one. Nearly identical versions can be recounted by star linebackers and backup offensive linemen alike; high-round draft picks and free agents who made a fleeting stopover in Foxboro; those who won a ring somewhere else and those who never would.
Anyone who had even the proverbial cup of coffee—Dunkin’ Donuts, to be sure—with the Patriots during Bill Belichick and Tom Brady’s 20-year NFL marriage is almost certain to encounter the assumption that they, too, won one of the dynasty’s six Super Bowl titles. But for those who were there during the often-forgotten nine-year championship drought, responding to a well-meaning conversation starter about rings can be awkward .