Their schedule is SOOO easy though lol. It is almost impossible for them not to win 11-12 games unless Brady gets hurt and even then they end up with 8 wins.
-Their division is awful. The Dolphins are a rudderless ship with a new coach, an overrated rookie QB taken because they had to take one, and no talent to speak of at the skill positions. They literally gave away their best receiver. The Jets have a "red zone QB" with Tebow. Having a QB platoon just screams winner lol. The Bills have made some great additions everywhere but receiver (although they retained Johnson) and are the only threat at all to the Pats.
-They play the NFC West. Arizona doesn't know who their QB is between they overpaid Kolb and John freaking Skelton. Seattle could be good or could be awful depending on how their QBs work out (personally pulling for the kid from Wisconsin). The 49ers should be just great as long as Alex Smith from last year is there which he should be now that he has a repeat Offensive Coordinator for potentially the first time in his career. St Louis is a joke.
-They play the AFC South. The AFC South is fucking bad. Just bad. The Colts are bad. The Jags are still starting Blaine Gabbert who is essentially the more hyped, and probably less skilled, version of Ryan Tannehill from last years draft. He looked bad every time he touched the field last year. The Texans should be good/great. The Titans are probably going to juggle QBs this season plus Kenny Brit got arrested again so they are probably receiver-less.
- Their two other opponents are Baltimore (great) and Denver (TBD).
In the end they play maybe 4 teams that actually are good/great teams who have any sort of idea what their team will look like: The Ravens, the 49ers, the Texans, and Denver. Throw the Bills on there and you are at six games against solid teams with an established identity (assuming Peyton is healthy). Of those 6 games, they play TWO on the road, Baltimore and obviously the Bills. They get the 49ers, Texans, and Broncos all in Foxboro. That's it. At worst they split with the Jets and Bills. They sweep Miami. They play their hardest games of the season in Weeks 3(@Bal), 5(vs Den), 14(vs Hou) and 15(vs 49ers). I wouldn't be surprised at all if they go 7-0 between then with a bunch of lolcake games against the Rams, Colts, Bills, Jetsx2 (which should be right in the heart of Tebowmania taking hold), Hawks, and Dolphins.
A "bad" Pats team could pull 10 wins out of this schedule in a year with a healthy Brady. I don't see any way at all their offense doesn't pull out at least 12 wins against that schedule. Another great thing, they play one team (ONE) that could be considered an elite passing team, the Texans and even they are run first. If Manning is top notch, that is two but they are the really only pass first team New England plays during the entire regular season.