”The Dynasty: New England Patriots” offers the NFL its own soap opera rendition of “The Last Dance,” presenting a warts-and-all drama about the people and conflicts behind the team’s illustrious career amidst a surge in sports documentaries available on streaming services. “Giannis: The Marvelous Journey” depicts the inspirational tale of Giannis Antetokounmpo, an immigrant who overcome hardship to become an NBA superstar, almost as a counterbalance.

With coach Bill Belichick and star quarterback Tom Brady leading the Patriots to six Super Bowl victories over the course of two decades, the team is undoubtedly a prime target, but Apple TV+’s ten-part documentary doesn’t sugarcoat the less glamorous aspects of the team’s achievements. These included the controversies involving “Spygate,” in which the Patriots acknowledged recording opponent signals on camera; “Deflategate,” in which Brady was suspended for deflating footballs; and Aaron Hernandez, the talented tight end who was found guilty of murder before taking his own life in prison in 2017.

Former Patriots receiver Brandon Lloyd summarizes the team’s philosophy regarding top players by saying that it “doesn’t matter how you win as long as you win,” in reference to the actions that were allowed surrounding Hernandez.

In “The Dynasty,” almost every member of the Patriots’ organization—including Brady, Belichick, and owner Robert Kraft—is interviewed, albeit the players nervously duck certain questions. The filmmaker, Matthew Hamachek, thus treads carefully when it comes to acknowledging the Patriots’ supremacy and revealing its darker side. This is a characteristic that also characterizes “The Last Dance,” a comprehensive 2020 documentary about the Chicago Bulls’ championship run led by Michael Jordan.

In fact, both shows highlight similar mindsets about how the desire to succeed in professional sports can, like other high-stakes activities, perhaps even more so, quickly turn into a fertile ground for animosity and feuds between people who feel undervalued for their contributions to the cause.

Brady and Belichick clashed in the Patriots’ case, and receiver Danny Amendola said that even though the players were under Belichick’s direction, they “played for Tom.”Brady and Belichick’s relationship had been “totally dysfunctional” by 2019, according to Kraft. Even though they kept winning on the field—they had their sixth and last Super Bowl victory that season—they still had problems off the field.

Brady, who sheds tears in the last episode, decides to leave because “I wasn’t going to sign up for more of it, based on how things had gone.”

The simpler but perhaps as enjoyable type of up-close-and-personal sports documentaries that have developed in the streaming era—”Giannis,” which debuted on Amazon’s Prime Video—stands in contrast to the soap opera-like complexity of “The Dynasty.”

Following Netflix documentaries on Lionel Messi (Apple), Jason Kelce (Amazon), and Stephen Curry (Apple), “Giannis” tells the story of Antetokounmpo’s rise to fame as a basketball player. Antetokounmpo’s Nigerian parents struggled to make ends meet by selling trinkets on the streets of Greece, sometimes going without food so their sons could eat every night.

Disney has already developed a streaming film called “Rise” based on the Antetokounmpos’ incredible rags-to-riches narrative, but it is still best to hear the information firsthand from the family.

From seeing Jason Kelce struggle with his passion of football and the physical toll that playing the game has on his body to being reminded of how Stephen Curry overcame doubters at every turn, these films also humanize sportsmen as they prepare for life beyond sports.

The Patriots docuseries almost feels like a cautionary tale for a team that has already attracted a lot of media attention, both through traditional channels (see the Netflix series “Quarterback,” which stars Patrick Mahomes) and because of Travis Kelce’s relationship with Taylor Swift. This is especially true as the Kansas City Chiefs construct the NFL’s latest championship dynasty.

Learning from “The Last Dance” and now “The Dynasty,” creating a sports dynasty involves a lot of pain in addition to blood, labor, and sweat. It serves as a reminder that even the highly acclaimed and lavishly rewarded larger-than-life individuals in sports nonetheless experience ordinary emotions, often even minor ones.