I have no doubt they'll win 13 or 14 games. having a Qb that throws 50 touchdown(man, that's eye popping) passes will win you a lot of games.
Who is the no. 1 CB on the Pats? Hobbs? I'm agreeing with you about the LB core. Drafting Mayo was a solid move. But I'm talking about your weak secondary, Body88. It's no where near as strong as it was last year. I'm telling you, not paying Asante will end up biting you in the ass when it counts the most.(playoff time)
I bet you the Pats give up 15-20 points a game on defense this year. They will outscore other teams, simple as that. But defense wins championships, as you already know. Things get turned up a notch in the post season. Look no further than the Superbowl when the Giants held that great offense to just 14 points.(and just 7 points until the last two minutes of the game.)
I will take that bet....and I will also bet you that letting Asante walk was not as big of a deal as you are making it out to be. Asante has already strained both of his hamstrings in eagles camp, and reports have him struggling in their defense. We will see this year, if the pats system, had anything to do with his success. The pats are not focusing on a number one corner, they want a bunch of effective guys, because they are going to run a pressure defense. Also, I have seen the rook cb's the pats picked up, and they are going to be good. Revis started for the jets, why can't we have young guys out there? Matt Slater is a sleeper pick, who will make a nice defensive player.The defense is going to be better than last year. It's the exact same defense (Minus Asante), plus four, new, YOUNG, fast lb's. Also, Seymour is going to be 100 percent this year. Letting Asante go won't bite the pats in the ass, they have capable corners, and they are running a pressure style defense this year. The d isn't based on the secondary. The pats won superbowls with guys you never heard of playing cb. From a defensive line standpoint, pats are top three in the NFL, and with the addition of Crable, Mayo,Gutton and Hobsen + Thomas moving back to his most effective position ( since he wont have to play in Colvins spot) = improved d. Meriweather ran stride for stride with Moss, and picked him off at camp last week.....He is going to come on this year, and I have high hopes for James Sanders. I made a similar argument about the colts d last year, and man was I wrong. You ever hear of any of the guys they brought in last year? I didn't and their d was the best it has ever been.
Your sb analogy is flawed imo. It's one game. The g men deserved to win, but it took several miracles for it to happen. I know they did a great job, but over 18 games the pats won game after game. If you are talking pure football success, you go with the long body of work. Unfortunately,the game where the trend was broken, was the biggest game. I know all about defense, the patriots have had several of the best over the last 8 years. The colts are an offensive team, yet they won the sb the year before, against a great bears d. Their defense sucked that year. The patriots defense needs to be good. They don't have to have a dominant d to win a championship, they have to have a good one. I would take a good defense, and a world class offensive, over a piss poor offense, and a world class defense. They wont allow 20 points a game, not over one player leaving. They got better on d. Btw, the pats secondary and lb's had little to do with the pats losing the sb, it was the offensive line.